Pasture Productivity Depending on the Method of Pasture use in the Steppe Zone of Northern Kazakhstan

Abstract

Unsystematic grazing of animals and continuous use of pastures leads to their degradation and, accordingly, to a shortage of pasture forage for the production of competitive environmentally friendly livestock products. The proportion of productive grasses in grass covers is decreasing; therefore, there is an urgent need to preserve valuable plant species in pasture grass, restore the productivity of natural vegetation and enrich it with valuable grasses. This study evaluated the impact of the unsystematic grazing method and a developed pasture rotation scheme on the height of the herbage and the productivity of seasonal pasture plots. The study was conducted as an experiment in the Arshaly district of the Akmola region located in the northern part of Kazakhstan. In 2019, unsystematic grazing of animals was carried out on the studied contours of the pasture. The animals grazed without alternating pastures and, as a result, the plants were subjected to intensive grazing for long periods or without sufficient recovery periods. In 2020, there was rotational grazing, where cattle grazed in different areas according to the seasons using a certain pasture rotation. As a result of the conducted study, it was found that with pasture rotation, the height of the herbage increased from 9.56±2.94 to 16.42±5.65 cm. The productivity of pastures after grazing decreased sharply but in the following season, the grassland recovered from 0.77±0.22 to 0.91±0.4 t/ha and exceeded the indicators of unsystematic grazing.