Research was conducted at the Sonora Research Station during a 4-year period (1984 to 1988) to measure differences in herbaceous vegetation response between two 7-pasture 1-herd grazing systems. Grazing tactics were short duration (SDG-7 days graze, 42 days rest) and high intensity, low frequency (HILF-14 days graze, 84 days rest). Stocking rate for the 2 treatments was 10.4 ha/auy. Total aboveground net primary production (ANPP) varied significantly among years but not between grazing treatments. Significant, divergent shifts in composition did occur over the 4 years as a function of grazing treatment. Shortgrass production in the SDG pastures increased from 45% of the total ANPP for year 1 to 74% for year 4. Shortgrass ANPP in the HILF pastures comprised 44% of the total herbaceous production for year 1 and 51% for year 4. Midgrass ANPP in SDG pastures comprised 3.8% of the herbaceous production for year 1 and 13.6% for year 4. Midgrass production in the HILF pastures represented 4.7% for year 1 and 33.9% for year 4. Our data indicate the SDG system did not promote secondary succession from shortgrasses to midgrasses as effectively as did the HILF system. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.