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We compared animal and vegetation responses of a 13 600-ha area under holistic grazing management (HGM) with a similar area under continuous grazing (CGM) in a Patagonian station. Limitations were a dry 2012 −2016 experimental period, poorer soils, and grazing of native guanacos (Lama guanicoe) in the HGM area. Forage standing crop in this area before the experience was lower and remained so during the study: (194 ±31 HGM vs. 244 ±33 kg dry matter . ha −1 CGM). Six monitoring sites showed similar and remarkable (though mostly nonsignificant) vegetation improvements in total cover (10.6% HGM vs. 10.9% CGM) and cover of short palatable grasses (21.4% vs. 23.9%, respectively). Species richness showed small changes ( −1 vs. −6%), bare soil interpatches decreased ( −11.9 vs. −5.4%), and land function indicators of Stability (5.4% vs. 9.9%), Infiltration (12.4% vs. 12.0%), and Nutrient recycling (4.2% vs. 20.6%) increased. Tussock cover changed significantly with grazing management, as it decreased −6% (ns) in HGM and grew 42% ( P = 0.03) under CGM, probably due to coarse tussock forage consumption in HGM. Sheep under HGM were 15% lighter (43.9 ±0.5 HGM vs. 51.7 ±0.5 kg . ewe −1 CGM P < 0.001), ewes scored 28% lower body condition (1.60 vs. 2.25, P < 0.001), and lambing rates were 36% lower (48.3 ±2.1% vs . 74.2 ±1.9%). Rotation ended in 2015 as a consequence of low lambing rates, and sheep body condition and reproductive rates recovered to similar values in both areas. Positive vegetation changes in both areas may be driven by residual effects of destocking 3 decades ago and show that improvement is possible using moderate stocking rates. Although it could be argued that rest periods of HGM may be positive in the long term, its negative effects on animal production should be addressed, and fast regeneration using intense management in these severely restricted habitats should not be expected. Slow, persistent progress under careful management seems achievable under both grazing systems. EEA Santa Cruz Fil: Oliva, Gabriel Esteban. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Oliva, Gabriel Esteban. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: Ferrante, Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Ferrante, Daniela. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Unidad Académica Río Gallegos; Argentina. Fil: Cepeda, Carla Tamara. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Humano, Gervasio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina. Fil: Puig, Silvina. Actividad Privada. Estancia Los Pozos. Santa Cruz; Argentina

Rice–wheat rotation is the most important cropping system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and is responsible for the food security of the region. The effect of different integrated nutrient management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and its fractions, SOC sequestration potential as well as the sustainability of the rice–wheat system were evaluated in long term experiments at different agro-climatic zones of IGP. Application of NPK either through inorganic fertilizers or through combination of inorganic fertilizer and organics such as farm yard manure (FYM) or crop residue or green manure improved the SOC, particulate organic carbon (POC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) concentration and their sequestration rate. Application of 50% NPK + 50% N through FYM in rice and 100% NPK in wheat, sequestered 0.39, 0.50, 0.51 and 0.62 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 over control (no N–P–K fertilizers or organics), respectively at Ludhiana, Kanpur, Sabour and Kalyani using the mass of SOC in the control treatment as reference point. Soil carbon sequestration with response to application of fertilizer partially substituted (50% on N basis) with organics were higher in Kalyani and Sabour lying in humid climate than Ludhiana and Kanpur lying in semiarid climate. The rice yield recorded a significant declining trend in Ludhiana and Kanpur where as the yield trend was stable at Sabour and Kalyani under unfertilized control. The system productivity in N–P–K fertilized plots and NPK along with organics showed either an increasing trend or remained stable at all locations during last two and half decades of the experiment.

Metadata only record In the Sahel region of West Africa, the traditional organization of the population and the grazing land avoided overexploitation of pastures. Since independence in the 1960s, grazing lands have been opened to all without specific guidance, and the vulnerability of the pastures to degradation has increased. Rotational grazing is postulated as a possible solution to provide higher pasture productivity, higher animal loads per unit land, and perhaps improved soil carbon storage. The objective of this study was to conduct a simulation-based assessment of the impact of rotational grazing management on pasture biomass production, grazing efficiency, animal grazing requirement satisfaction, and soil carbon storage in the Madiama Commune, Mali. The results showed that grazing intensity is the primary factor influencing the productivity of annual pastures and their capacity to provide for animal grazing requirements. Rotating the animals in paddocks is a positive practice for pasture protection that showed advantage as the grazing pressure increased. Increasing the size of the reserve biomass not available for grazing, which triggers the decision of taking the animals off the field, provided better pasture protection but reduced animal grazing requirements satisfaction. In terms of soil carbon storage, all management scenarios led to reduction of soil carbon at the end of the 50-year simulation periods, ranging between 4% and 5% of the initial storage. The differences in reduction as a function of grazing intensity were of no practical significance in these soils with very low organic matter content, mostly resistant to decomposition. SysCoor-2 (Farm/Enterprise)

Carbon sequestration in soils has been presented as a potential mechanism to enhance productivity in semi-arid lands in Africa while contributing to the mitigation of greenhouse emissions. Most of the literature, however, focuses on assessing the capacity of existing technology to sequester carbon in soils. There is much less discussion in the literature on the social and institutional elements that need to be in place to realize the potential benefits of carbon sequestration. This paper contributes insights in this direction by analyzing a case of community-based pasture management in north-central Mali. The case study challenges common assumptions in carbon sequestration efforts, namely that land resources are devoted to a single use by resident users; have distinct boundaries and fall within identifiable territorial and administrative jurisdictions, and are subject to widely recognized claims and free of conflict. We suggest that this is not always the case. Findings indicate that carbon sequestration projects centered on rangelands need to allow for flexibility in livestock movements and resource availability and to account for the diverging interest of multiple stakeholders, including different types of pastoralists and farmers. We conclude that social capital formation and conflict management are key elements of a carbon sequestration strategy in supports of sustainable and equitable development in the Sahelian region.

Characterization of forest attributes at fine scales is necessary to manage terrestrial resources in a manner that replicates, as closely as possible, natural ecological conditions. In forested ecosystems, management decisions are driven by variables such as forest composition, forest structure (both vertical and horizontal), and other ancillary data (i.e., topography, soils, slope, aspect, and disturbance regime dynamics). Vertical forest structure is difficult to quantify and yet is an important component in the decision-making process. This study investigated the use of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data for classifying this attribute at landscape scales for inclusion into decision-support systems. Analysis of field-derived tree height variance demonstrated that this metric could distinguish between two classes of vertical forest structure. Analysis of LiDAR-derived tree height variance demonstrated that differences between single-story and multistory vertical structural classes could be detected. Landscape-scale classification of the two structure classes was 97% accurate. This study suggested that within forest types of the Intermountain West region of the United States, LiDAR-derived tree heights could be useful in the detection of differences in the continuous, nonthematic nature of vertical structure forest with acceptable accuracies.

Trees play a critical role in the development of sustainable land use systems in the southern Africa region, but access to tree germplasm is limited. It was hypothesized that facilitating the establishment of farmer nurseries would promote decentralized tree seedling production in an efficient way, while at the same time provide opportunities for building natural, human and social capital. A study was conducted in Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania over 2 years to analyze the productivity of farmer nurseries and their functions in sustainable development. With limited outside support, farmers produced an estimated 6.2 million tree seedlings from 1901 nurseries across the three study areas over two years. Productivity of nurseries depended greatly on access to scarce water sources during the dry season. Farmers located the majority of nurseries therefore in ecologically sensitive dambo locations and along riverbanks, both posing possible land use conflicts in the future due to increasing human populations. Farmers organized two types of nurseries, with group nurseries producing significantly fewer tree seedlings compared to individual nurseries. This was attributed to larger transaction costs associated with organization and capacity building of group nurseries. On the other hand, the success of individual nurseries appeared to depend on human and social "start-up" capital being provided by group nurseries through previous training. In the absence of rigorous valuation of the longer-term effects of both types of nurseries in building natural, human and social capital, it appears that both have a role to play in meeting local demand for tree seedlings. Results generally suggest that smallholder farmers can play a pivotal role in providing tree germplasm for the development of sustainable land use systems.

Support to farmer nurseries is classified as either “hard” referring to material inputs (tree seed, water, inoculum, tools and fencing) or “soft” (information, training and backstopping advice). Against a background of poor services for smallholder farmers in southern Africa, it was hypothesized that a number of support agents operating at the grass root level together with farmers themselves provide the different support functions needed in farmer nurseries. A study was conducted to evaluate the role of support systems in farmer nurseries in Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. Furthermore, the early tree planting impact of farmer nurseries was assessed in Malawi. Support for hard inputs came largely from single service providers, with significant and increasing contributions coming from farmers themselves. Soft inputs came from a larger diversity of providers with collaborative effort gaining importance. There is an urgent need to facilitate grassroot level support systems with larger participation from the private sector for tree seed and from the national extension services for provision of training and backstopping advice. It was noted that individual nurseries achieved larger transplanting impact, but this did not translate into higher impact at the landscape level, because group nurseries were the predominant type. Strengthening the human capital of farmers and service providers emerged as critical in increasing impact. Farmer nurseries are shown to play a number of important and interrelated functions in building natural, human and social capital. Monitoring and evaluating farmer nurseries in catalyzing these three functions should therefore receive proper attention in assessing the impact of sustainable land use systems. Policies need to be articulated to address some of the major constraints identified.