IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i12p4769-d190463.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Response of Grazing Land Soil Health to Management Strategies: A Summary Review

Author

Listed:
  • Sutie Xu

    (Department of Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science, University of Tennessee, 2506 E J Chapman Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA)

  • Sindhu Jagadamma

    (Department of Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science, University of Tennessee, 2506 E J Chapman Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA)

  • Jason Rowntree

    (Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, 474 S. Shaw Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

Abstract

Grazing land ecosystem services including food provision and climate regulation are greatly influenced by soil health. This paper provides a condensed review of studies on the response of three important soil properties related to soil health to grazing land management: water infiltration, carbon (C) sequestration, and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Impacts of management strategies that are often used in grazing lands are discussed in this review including vegetation composition, grazing methods, and other factors such as fertilizer use and climatic conditions. In general, proper grazing management such as continuous moderate grazing and rotational/deferred-rotational grazing with low or moderate stocking rates tends to benefit all three soil properties. Water infiltration can usually be increased with full vegetation cover, increased soil C, and aggregate stability, or be decreased with greater soil bulk density. Adoption of highly productive plant species with faster turnover rates can promote soil C sequestration by increasing C input. However, excessive C removal from ecosystems due to overgrazing or improper soil fertilization management results in higher C loss, which can have detrimental effects on soil C sequestration. Proper stocking rate and a balanced manure/fertilizer management was found to be critical for enhancing NUE. Grazing land management sometimes simultaneously influence the three soil properties. Techniques that can increase soil C such as introduction of high productive plant species can often promote water infiltration and soil nitrogen (N). Some other practices such as adoption of N fertilizer may enhance C sequestration while being detrimental to NUE. An integrated management plan for a specific location or farm should be considered carefully to improve soil health as well as ecosystem production. This review provides farmers and policy makers the current state of general knowledge on how health-related soil processes are affected by grazing land management.

Suggested Citation

  • Sutie Xu & Sindhu Jagadamma & Jason Rowntree, 2018. "Response of Grazing Land Soil Health to Management Strategies: A Summary Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-26, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4769-:d:190463
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4769/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/12/4769/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan Sanderman & Jodie Reseigh & Michael Wurst & Mary-Anne Young & Jenet Austin, 2015. "Impacts of Rotational Grazing on Soil Carbon in Native Grass-Based Pastures in Southern Australia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Teixeira, R.F.M. & Domingos, T. & Costa, A.P.S.V. & Oliveira, R. & Farropas, L. & Calouro, F. & Barradas, A.M. & Carneiro, J.P.B.G., 2011. "Soil organic matter dynamics in Portuguese natural and sown rainfed grasslands," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(4), pages 993-1001.
    3. Park, Jong-Yoon & Ale, Srinivasulu & Teague, W. Richard, 2017. "Simulated water quality effects of alternate grazing management practices at the ranch and watershed scales," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 360(C), pages 1-13.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chowdhury, Iftekhar Uddin Ahmed & Wang, Tong & Jin, Hailong & Smart, Alexander J., 2020. "Exploring the Determinants of Perceived Benefits of Rotational Grazing in the U. S. Great Plains," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304487, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Hannah Gosnell & Kerry Grimm & Bruce E. Goldstein, 2020. "A half century of Holistic Management: what does the evidence reveal?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 849-867, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barbara Wróbel & Waldemar Zielewicz & Mariola Staniak, 2023. "Challenges of Pasture Feeding Systems—Opportunities and Constraints," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-31, April.
    2. Ethan Gordon & Federico Davila & Chris Riedy, 2022. "Transforming landscapes and mindscapes through regenerative agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 809-826, June.
    3. Chowdhury, Iftekhar Uddin Ahmed & Wang, Tong & Jin, Hailong & Smart, Alexander J., 2020. "Exploring the Determinants of Perceived Benefits of Rotational Grazing in the U. S. Great Plains," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304487, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Haibin Chen & Li He & Haiping Tang & Minjuan Zhao & Liqun Shao, 2016. "A Two-Step Strategy for Developing Cultivated Pastures in China that Offer the Advantages of Ecosystem Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-13, April.
    5. João Serrano & Shakib Shahidian & José Marques da Silva & Luís Paixão & Mário de Carvalho & Francisco Moral & Julio Nogales-Bueno & Ricardo F.M. Teixeira & Marjan Jongen & Tiago Domingos & Ana Elisa R, 2021. "Evaluation of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) for Estimating Soil Organic Matter and Phosphorus in Mediterranean Montado Ecosystem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, March.
    6. Che, Yuyuan & Feng, Hongli & Hennessy, David, 2021. "Assessing Peer Effects and Subsidy Impacts in Technology Adoption: Application to Grazing Management Choices with Farm Survey Data," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315123, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Chen, Yong & Ale, Srinivasulu & Rajan, Nithya & Srinivasan, Raghavan, 2017. "Modeling the effects of land use change from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to perennial bioenergy grasses on watershed hydrology and water quality under changing climate," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 198-208.
    8. Laporta, Lia & Domingos, Tiago & Marta-Pedroso, Cristina, 2021. "It's a keeper: Valuing the carbon storage service of Agroforestry ecosystems in the context of CAP Eco-Schemes," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    9. Hyland, John J. & Heanue, Kevin & McKillop, Jessica & Micha, Evgenia, 2018. "Factors underlying farmers' intentions to adopt best practices: The case of paddock based grazing systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 97-106.
    10. Wang, Tong & Jin, Hailong & Kreuter, Urs & Teague, Richard, 2021. "Expanding grass-based agriculture on marginal land in the U.S. Great Plains: The role of management intensive grazing," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    11. Li-Chi Chiang & Yi-Ting Chuang & Chin-Chuan Han, 2019. "Integrating Landscape Metrics and Hydrologic Modeling to Assess the Impact of Natural Disturbances on Ecohydrological Processes in the Chenyulan Watershed, Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, January.
    12. José Telo da Gama & Luis Loures & António Lopez-Piñeiro & Derick Quintino & Paulo Ferreira & José Rato Nunes, 2021. "Assessing the Long-Term Impact of Traditional Agriculture and the Mid-Term Impact of Intensification in Face of Local Climatic Changes," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, August.
    13. Ravjit Khangura & David Ferris & Cameron Wagg & Jamie Bowyer, 2023. "Regenerative Agriculture—A Literature Review on the Practices and Mechanisms Used to Improve Soil Health," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-41, January.
    14. Che, Yuyuan & Feng, Hongli & Hennessy, David A., 2023. "Will adoption occur if a practice is win-win for profit and the environment? An application to a rancher's grazing practice choices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:12:p:4769-:d:190463. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.