In this study, Dormaar et al. compared the impact of a rotation grazing system on the soil and vegetation of a Stipa-Bouteloua-Agropyron community in the mixed prairie ecoregion to ungrazed exclosures. At a low stocking rate, grazing had no effect on the vegetation but did alter soil quality. Grazing pressure was so light in the rotational grazing treatment that recovery of productivity, as measured by standing crop and litter, was not significantly different from the ungrazed treatment. Grazed areas had less total C, total N, and biological and chemical indexes, and more NH₄-N,NO₃-N, urease activity, and available P in the soil than ungrazed control. The effect of grazing in this environment was indirect, possibly by altering the microenvironment.
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