Nyberg, Gert
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
BackgroundRehabilitation of degraded rangelands through the establishment of enclosures (fencing grazing lands) is believed to improve soil quality and livelihoods, and enhance the sustainability of rangelands. Grazing dominated enclosure (GDE) and contractual grazing enclosure (CGE) are the common enclosure management systems in West Pokot County, Kenya. Under CGE, a farmer owning few animals leases the enclosure to households with relatively more livestock, while GDE is where the livestock utilizing the enclosure are purely owned by the farmer. Livestock management in both systems is via the free-range system. This study evaluated the effect of enclosure management on total soil organic carbon (SOC), particulate organic carbon (POC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) as key indicators of soil degradation at 0-40cm depth. The two enclosure systems were selected based on three age classes (3-10, 11-20 and >20years since establishment) (n=3). The adjacent open grazing area (OGR) was used as a reference (n=9).ResultsRelative to OGR, the pasture enclosures significantly decreased soil bulk density and increased the concentrations of total organic C, POC, MBC and MBN compared to the degraded OGR (P
Keywords
Enclosure; Environmental microbiology; Land degradation; Microbial biomass; Organic carbon; Particulate carbon; Rehabilitation; Soil quality
Published in
BMC Ecology
2018, volume: 18, article number: 45
Publisher: BMC
SLU Authors
Global goals (SDG)
UKÄ Subject classification
Soil Science
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-018-0202-z
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/97228