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The LTAR Grazing Land Common Experiment at Northern Plains.

Authors :
Toledo D
Hendrickson J
Liebig M
Kobilansky C
Carrlson A
Kronberg S
Christensen R
Archer D
Branson D
Rand T
Campbell J
Igathinathane C
Source :
Journal of environmental quality [J Environ Qual] 2024 Aug 01. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 01.
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
Ahead of Print

Abstract

The USDA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network aims to enhance sustainable agricultural management practices through a coordinated, cross-site common experiment involving 18 locations across the United States. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the LTAR grazing lands common experiment at the Northern Plains (NP) site, where an experiment was initiated in 2019 to answer producers' and researchers' questions about whether the tactical application of fire or grazing can reduce the dominance of invasive Kentucky bluegrass in northern Great Plains ecosystems. As part of the LTAR common experiment, we contrast a prevailing practice (season-long grazing at moderate stocking rate) with four alternative practices at a half-hectare plot scale: (1) mob grazing by cattle, (2) multi-species grazing (mob grazing by cattle, with goats foraging at key times of the year), (3) prescribed fire, and (4) prescribed fire followed by cattle grazing. A stakeholder group is engaged in the co-production process to determine alternative practices and how to apply them. Every 5 years, the treatment with the best overall outcomes is applied at a field scale (15 ha), resulting in a core treatment contrast of prevailing versus alternative grazing management systems. This experiment aims to develop alternative agroecological practices that optimize current and future economic and ecosystem benefits.<br /> (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Environmental Quality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1537-2537
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Journal of environmental quality
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
39087265
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20604