Grazing with Goats Changed the Woodland Plant- Species Composition During Summer

Rishi Khatri, Uma Karki, Jerry Bettis and Yubaraj Karki

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal (PAWJ), 2016, vol. 04, issue 01, 12

Abstract: Woodland grazing is a common practice in the Southeast; however, information is limited on its effects on the woodland plant-species composition. The study objective was to determine the effect of summer grazing on woodland plant-species composition. Before- and after-grazing observations were taken at the ground, mid, and high levels in three plots (1-acre each) along the pre-established transects. Kiko wethers (29, 6-8 months old, 26.8±0.67 kg body weight) were allowed to graze the plots after before-grazing observations were taken. After-grazing observations were taken immediately after the goats were moved out from the plots. Grazing showed a significant effect on the plant species diversity at the ground- and mid-level (p<0.0001). The evenness indices after grazing for the ground- and mid-level vegetation were decreased by 26% and 24%, respectively. The results suggest that goats’ grazing can have a significant short-term impact on the woodland-plant community below 1.5 m height.

Keywords: Land Economics/Use; Livestock Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/253127/files/Grazing%20with%20Goats.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:pawjal:253127

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.253127

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Professional Agricultural Workers Journal (PAWJ) from Professional Agricultural Workers Conference
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().