Arid Zone Research ›› 2019, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (5): 1168-1174.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2019.05.14

• Plant and Plant Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Closing Grazing on the Litter Amount in Desert Steppe

CHEN Xiao-ying, SONG Nai-ping, LI Min-lan, WU Ting, CHEN Juan   

  1. Key Laboratory for Restoration and Reconstruction of Degenerated Ecosystem in Northwest China under Ministry of Education/Breeding Base for State Key Laboratory of Land Degradation and Ecological Restoration in Northwest China, Ningxia University,Yinchuan 750021,Ningxia,China
  • Received:2018-12-14 Revised:2019-03-19 Published:2025-10-14

Abstract: In this study,the line intercept method and variance analysis were used to analyze the effects of closing grazing and fenced grazing on the soil nutrient content in desert steppe.The litter amount over two soil matrixes (aeolian sand soil and sierozem) in three-paired enclosure plots and fenced grazing plots fenced for different years in Yanchi County,Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region were studied,where the grazing rates were 0.58,0.65 and 0.80 sheep·hm-2.respectively.The response of litter accumulation to grassland utilization and soil matrix was discussed.The results showed that: ① There was a significant effect of enclosure on the litter amount in the community.The litter amount in the enclosure plots in desert steppe varied in a range of 53.2-141.9 g·m-2,and it was 2.82 times of that in the fenced grazing plots; ② There was no significant difference in litter amount between the two kinds of plots on the aeolian sandy soil; on sierozem,however,the litter amount in the enclosure plot was 3.86 times of that in the fenced grazing plot; ③ Compared with the above-ground biomass,the reduction of litter amount of herbaceous plants and the increase of litter amount of shrub plants may be caused by the difference of decomposition and transformation.

Key words: desert steppe, fenced, enclosure plot, litter amount, Yanchi County