(Inner Mongolian Academy of Animal Science, Hohhot, 010030)
(Hohhot Environmental Protection Institute, Hohhot, 010030)
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is almost composed of upland and plateau areas, or named Inner Mongolia Plateau. The Region is situated in the central part of Euro-Asian Continent, in the northern boundary of China, accounting for one eighth of the total land territory of China. Most of land surface in Inner Mongolia is covered by native grassland, which is the main part of Euro-Asian Continent rangeland and steppe. The total area of rangeland and steppe is 78.8 million ha (the pasture available for grazing is 63.33 million ha), accounting for 67% of the total land area of Inner Mongolia, which is 13.5 times of cultivated land area, 3.5 times of forest area of the region. It accounts for 22% of the total rangeland and steppe area of China. Inner Mongolian rangeland is the largest one in acreage in China, which is the important animal husbandry production base in China. Since 1980's, with the rapid growth of livestock, the steppe vegetation was quickly degenerated. By the end of 1995, the degenerated, desertified rangeland and steppe area with different extent has reached 28 million ha, accounting for above 35% of the existing rangeland/steppe area. This degradation process does not only affect the development of animal husbandry, but also brings impact on the protection of rangeland/steppe. The rangeland/steppe along both banks of Yellow River plays the important role on preventing wind and stabilizing sand, conserving water and soil, preserving bio-diversity. Therefore, many approaches to control the rangeland degradation have been developed and effective achievements have been gained in past decades.
1.1 Climatic condition
Temperature: The winter is long and cold, lasting for about 180-200 days. The minimum temperature varies from 15℃ to 32℃ below zero in January. The summer is short and hot, extends for 70-100 days. The temperature in free-forest period coincides to the plant growth period. For snow retention period, the first snow is at the end of September or early October and the last snow falls in early May. The snow retention days is 50-130 days. In the north, the retention period is 130 days. The withering period starts in mid-October.
Inner Mongolia Plateau is characterized by sparse precipitation and snow in winter and spring seasons and are mainly concentrated in summer with great variation, the annual variation of precipitation in different months are different. Inner Mongolian Plateau is situated in the transitional belt of monsoon wind. So it has less rainfall and unbalanced distribution, which causes the lack of water resources. The soil is mainly composed of steppe soil, which has common calcification.
1.2 Vegetation condition
The drought as the characteristics of continental climate of Inner Mongolian Plateau decides the water and heat distributing as a belt along the altitude and longitude form northeast to southwest and forms 5 types of rangeland and steppe. Form the eastern meadow steppe to western desert, the grassland plant components are less and the grassland types are very obvious and grassland group structure is simpler and the shrubs and sub-shrubs are more in grassland and herb plants, especially the weeds, gradually decrease.
1.2.1 Meadow steppe
The dominant species is Filifolium sibiricum as the major vegetation, accounting for 12% of total steppe area. The yield of fodder is 1,170 kg/ha The productivity is lower and the quality is lower.
1.2.2 Typical steppe
The dominant species are Stipa grandis, stipa krylovii, Stipabungeeana and Cleistogenes suqarrosa and shrubs, a few shrubs and Artemisia frigida and Artemisia desetovum, respectively, as the basic vegetation, which is the main component of Inner Mongolian steppe and rangeland, accounting for 38.1% of the total rangeland and steppe area. The yield of fodder is 570 kg/ha
1.2.3 Desert steppe
The dominant species are Stipa klemenzii, Stipa Gobia, Stipa breviflora, Cleistogenes songorica, Allium polyrhizum and Allium Mongolicum. The plant community is short and the yield is low and unstable. The yield of forage is 270 kg/ha It accounts for 12% of the total rangeland/steppe areas.
1.2.4 Grazingland
The dominant plant community is xerophytic shrubs and sub-shrubs as the basic vegetation community and there is less herbosa in it. There are large areas of exposed surface and serious wind erosion and the yield is very low. The yield of forage is 250 kg/ha It accounts for 7.5% of the total rangeland and steppe areas.
1.2.5 Desert
There are less plant varieties, most of them are composed of 1-2 kinds of shrubs and sub-shrubs. The rangeland and steppe quality is worse and the yield is low. The yield of forage is 120 kg/ha. It accounts for 14.8% of the total rangeland and steppe areas.
Except for the above-mentioned types of regional steppe and rangelands, there are more types of intra-zonal steppe: lowland meadow, mountain meadow and swamp. They account for 12.2 %, 2.1% and 1.3% of the total rangeland and steppe areas respectively. The bio-mass production is 900-1,500 kg/ha
1.3 The number of livestock
fed by the rangeland/steppe and the animal production
According to the statistics of June 30th, 1996, about 4.772 million of cattle, 3.32 million of horse, 163,000 million of camels, 30.884 million of sheep units.
The production of meat is 3.97 kg/ha; wool is 0.76 kg/ha; milk is 4.57 kg/ha The meat production per unit area accounts for 32% of the average production of the world, 12% of that of the USA and 26% of that of Russia.
Compared with the rangeland and steppe vegetation in 1960's, the degraded area of rangeland and steppe in Inner Mongolian Plateau has reached above 35% after 30 years. Among them, the lightly degraded rangeland and steppe areas, medium degraded rangeland accounts for 36% and seriously degraded rangeland and steppe accounts for 17%. The degradation process is still developing in the speed of 1.1 million ha per year.
2.1 Main characteristics of the rangeland vegetation degradation
2.1.1 The structure of rangeland and steppe vegetation is simple and community is short. The components vegetative composition has been changed greatly and some species have been declined and even disappeared and a lot of annual plants and all kinds of weed have been gradually survived and even poisonous and injurious plants have been increased.
2.1.2 The palatable fine forage in community decreased and the bio-mass production is reduced, while unpalatable or weed forages increased and the bio-mass production has been increased.
2.1.3 The ecological condition of rangeland and steppe have been deteriorated. The desertification, salined-alkalized soils, surface exposition, poor soil and water and soil losses aggravated.
2.1.4 Rodents and insect have been increased, which impact the rangeland seriously. They bring serious damages to the ecological environment.
2.1.5 Affect the production of animal husbandry and the quality and quantity of animal products and cause quickly decrease of production.
2.2 The main reason of rangeland and steppe vegetation degradation
Human activities and natural factors are the root causes of the rangeland and steppe degradation. Human activities play the main role to cause the degradation of rangeland and steppe. Human activities, such as cultivation of rangeland and steppe, collection of medical plants and tech-genetic issues, caused the degradation of rangeland and steppe at different extents. It can be seen from the degradation of rangeland and steppe vegetation in recent 30 years that the main reasons of rangeland and steppe vegetation degradation are as following:
2.2.1 With the development of productivity and the continuous increasing of livestock, irrational grazing have caused the change of rangeland/steppe vegetation and environment change and the contradiction between the shortage of forage and rapid grwoth of livestock. Overgrazing is main reason to cause the decrease of steppe quality and decline of animal husbandry production.
2.2.2 The lacks of long-term plan and integrated programme of rangeland and steppe development and improvement and practical approaches are the key issues.
2.2.3 The rangeland and steppe should be rationally utilized and optimum rehabilitation should be arranged at the period of degradation.
3.1 Policies on rangeland and steppe protection, utilization and improvement
3.1.1 In recent years, new policies on rangeland protection, utilization and improvement have been issued and the responsibilities for rangeland management and the right of rangeland utilization have been made through legal contract between the government and herdsmen. These policies and contracts are guaranteed by the state laws for a long duration of 30 to 50 years.
3.1.2 The state policies on the protection, utilization and rebuilding have been adopted, which are aimed to encourage all the state-owned, collective and private sectors to put their efforts to the rangeland and steppe management. All the herdsmen will get the return benefits from their efforts on rangeland and steppe.
3.1.3 State Law of Grassland has been formulated, which plays specific role on rangeland and steppe protection, utilization and improvement, such as the preservation, limitation of rangeland reclamation, improvement of degraded rangeland, and controlling of undue collection of medicine herb from the steppe and rangeland.
3.1.4 In view of the situation of Inner Mongolia, the local administrative departments have worked out specific regulations and policies of rangeland management and protection.
3.2 Technical measurements
3.2.1 Improvement of natural rangeland and steppe by
revegetation of degraded rangeland and steppe
Air seeding: at present, the area of aerial seeding has reached 0.51 million ha About 50-60 thousand ha is sown each year. The air seeding programmes were normally arranged in the seriously desertified and degraded rangeland and steppe areas and loess hilly areas with serious water erosion and soil loss, and in the fenced areas, which were oriented for grazing activities when crop cultivation has been ejected. The minimum area of air seeding is no less than 700 ha in size. The precipitation is no less than 250 mm in the region, where air seeding is conducting and the topsoil should be no less than 20 cm. The results show that the production has been increased by 2-3 times in the first year when the air seeding was completed. After 5 years, the bio-mass production will be as high as 8-10 times. In general, the air seeded rangeland and steppe in the second and third year, they should be fenced with care protection and they can be opened for grazing at least 3-4 years later.
Dry-lot feeding: The existing area of rangeland and steppe are 4.8 million ha in Inner Mongolia. About 40 thousand ha degraded rangeland was fenced each year. The fencing system is adopted on medium and severely desertified and degraded rangeland. The methods are: dry-lot feeding all the year round, fence in summer and autumn and open in winter; seasonal fence: enclose in spring and open in summer and enclose in autumn and open in winter. The small area of steppe should be enclosed in the areas where grazing land is insufficient. Dry-lot feeding can ensure the environmental condition of normal growth of plants. The vegetative coverage will be increased by 8-10% after 4-month fencing and the bio-mass production will be increased by 2-3 times.
Shallow tillage and loosening soil, fertilization and irrigation: the existing area improved by these approaches has been increased upto 1.6 million ha About 320,000 ha of rangeland and steppe have been improved each year. The objective of shallow tillage is to improve the air permeability of soil, which is adopted in the rangeland with sufficient water moisture, especially in legumes or weedy grazing land. The depth of tillage is 10-15 cm. The heavy and light tillage is adopted. In view of regional conditions, climate and water, single and mixture sowing of pioneer species of forage will be chosen. And the bio-mass production will be increased by 1-2 times. Limited by manpower and resources, rangeland fertilization is only adopted in natural fertilizing process. Through moving livestock campsite in a planned way, the rangeland is fertilized by excrement and urine. The area is small, but the cost is lower. The approaches for irrigating rangeland are limited in the areas with sufficient water or on both banks of rivers, but the effect is significant.
The control of rodents and insects on rangeland and steppe. The rodents and insects are the one of the serious disasters in the dry years in Inner Mongolia Plateau. The total area of the controlled rodents and insects is 1.5 million ha and 680,000 ha each year. Pesticides and biological approaches are often used to control the rodents and insects.
The control of poisonous and injurious grasses. The poisonous and injurious grasses of Inner Mongolia Plateau are mainly Cicuta virosa, Stellera chamaejasme, Veratrum L. acnitum l , Stipa grandis, Stipa baicalensis, Xanthium sibiricum, Lepidium. The direct method of control is weed killer and artificial elimination. The indirect method is the rational use of rangeland to improve the quality forage growth and to limit the revegetation of poisonous and injurious grasses. According to the statistics of 1996, the controlled area of poor quality grasses have been reached up to 220,000 ha
3.2.2 Establishment of artificial grazing land and semi-artificial grazing land
The quality and productive grazing land is established in the region with good natural condition, which will greatly improve the bio-mass productivity. The production and quality of one ha of artificial grazing can be several times and even ten times higher than that of natural rangeland. The establishment of artificial grazing land will be recovered and rehabilitated. The artificial grazing land in sandy region can be prevented from wind and sands will be stabilized. At present, the existing area of artificial grazing land is 2.74 million ha, in which the area of feeding shrubs is 1.2 million ha The shrub is 170,000 ha each year.
From natural condition, the present artificial grazing land is mainly distributed in the terrace, abandoned land, deteriorated meadow, where leguminous grasses and herb are mainly planted. Shrubs, sub-shrubs and drought-tolerant and sand-tolerant Austragalus spp., Melilotus suaveolen and Caragana microphylla are mainly planted on sand dunes, degraded rangeland and part of fixed dunes. For the establishment of artificial grazing land, the mixture plantation is a sound arrangement. The species are Medicago sativa, Onobrychis viciifolia and Austragalus adsurgens of leguminous grasses and Leymus chinensis, Elymus dahuricus, Elymus sibiricus and Lolium perenne of herb. The species are mainly Poa pratensis, Agropyron cristatum, Festuca ovina, Medicago falcalta and Medicago lupulina. At present, the artificial grazing land in Inner Mongolia Plateau is mostly used for harvesting forage and fodders. The production is increased up to 3-5 times higher than that of natural rangeland.
Improvement of degraded rangeland. Necessary approaches are needed for fencing the degraded rangeland. At present, the necessary approaches include water conservation, planting grasses and feed, protective shelterbelts and machinery. It is mainly used to produce forage for winter and spring seasons. As the main approaches, water from river, lake, reservoir and digging wells were used through spray irrigation and canal irrigation. The protective shelter belts should be vertical with the main wind direction, where trees and shrubs are planted as complex system in an arrangement of 5-7 lines.
In summarizing the facts mentioned above, the area of degraded rangeland and steppe in Inner Mongolia Plateau has increased up to 22.2 million ha At present, the improvement of natural vegetation and establishment of artificial grazing land may fill the gap of degraded grazing land. However, it takes longer time and more effort to restore the aboriginal vegetation. To fasten this speed, the government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and research sectors have made great contribution in rangeland management and livestock production.
(1) From 1998, a regional plan of “seed project” of rangeland and livestock has been formulated to improve the qualities of rangeland and livestock in the whole region. The project is mainly aimed to improve rangeland and livestock, and to increase the production of wool, milk and meat of the individual animal;
(2) In the adjustment of composition of livestock, more attention will be paid on the meat-type animals, and on promotion of the growth of livestock. About 10 million meat-type sheep will be supplied to the market each year. About 600,000 heads of beef cattle will be provided to market ;
(3) The intensive production of rangeland and animal husbandry will be on the basis of rational utilization and sustainable resources management. In the past time, each sheep occupied 0.8 ha of grazing land and it is planned that each sheep will share 0.4 ha of grazing in future.
(4) This arrangement of grazing density is at the stage of experiment and the scale will be limited at reasonable extent.
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