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Grassland Resources and Development of Grassland Agriculture in Temperate China

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Grassland Resources and Development of Grassland Agriculture in Temperate China 124 Rangelands 10(3), June 1988 Grassland Resources and Development of Grassland Agriculture in Temperate China Zhu Tinachen Natural temperate grasslands occupy 2.4 million km2 or one-quarter ofthe area of China. They form a broad beltfrom the plains of the northeast to the Tibetan Plateau of the southwest (Fig. 1). The nature and distribution of thegrassland is determined in large part by the influence of the monsoon. In the north- east where the monsoon is well developed, the grassland owes its existenceto dry conditions in the spring. Westward and southwestward wherethe monsooninfluence is weaker, the grasslandsoccupy higherelevations (to as high as 5,000 m) in response to the semiarid and arid regional climate. Similarly, temperate grasslands occur at high elevations in mountains of the desert region in northwestern China, far beyond the continuous grassland belt. Some 4,000 species offlowering plants comprise thevegetation ofthese temper- ate grasslands.About 200 are important forage species. The livestock population in China is about 130 million Fig. I Steppe zone of China cattle units. Most of the livestock are dependent on these 1.Meadow steppe, 2.Typical steppe. 3.Desert steppe. 4. Shrub steppe. 5. Alpine steppe. natural temperategrasslands. GrasslandTypes responding to climate and distributed in the form of a belt. Meadows are not zonal; they are controlled by local envi- Based on the concept of zonal vegetation, the natural ronments.About 80 ofthe area of is occu- of China can be divided into two percent grassland temperategrasslands major pied by zone steppetypes and about 20 percent by meadow types: steppe and meadow. Steppe vegetation is zonal, types. Needlegrass(Stipa breviflora) typical steppe covers the Inner Mongolian plateau. August is the bestseason for cutting. Rangelands 10(3), June 1988 125 Gobineea,e grass (Stipa gobica) aesertsteppe covers we westernChinese steppezone. Here the grassesare short, sothis kind of steppe is adapted only to grazing uncontrolledSheep. An important characteristic ofgrasslands is thegrass spe- ciescomposition, particularly the dominants. The latter and their water ecological characteristics have been used to subdivide the types. Sore 1. Steppe Five types of steppe are recognized in China: Meadow Steppe, Typical Steppe, Desert Steppe, Shrub Steppe, and AlpineSteppe. (1) MeadowSteppe occurs in theeastern part of the grass- land belt, extending westward to the eastern edge of the InnerMongolian Plateau.The principal dominants are Stipa Fig: 2 Ecological Increasing humidity in sere I baicalensisand Leymuschinensis. Decreasing in sere F series of Steppe humidity (2) TypIcal Steppe lies west of Meadow Steppe in the Rising temperature in sere III types in Inner Mongolian Plateau. Here the dominants are St/pa Droping temperature sore J\ grandis, Stipa kry!ovii, and St/pa breviflora. is located on both moisture (3) Desert Steppe occupies the western part of inner midway gradients. Increasing Mongolia and extends southward into parts of the near pro- favours developmentof Meadow Steppe, while decreasing vinces. The principal dominants are Stipa glareosa, Stipa moisture results in Desert Steppe. Likewise, increasing klemenzii and temperature favours Shrub Steppe and decreasing Temper- Stipa gob/ca. in (4) Shrub Steppe has a discontinuous distribution due to ature results AlpineSteppe. irregular topography. Itoccupies the midwesternparts ofthe 2. Meadows Yellow Soil Plateau. The dominants are Stipa bungeana According to their habitats, the meadows are classed in ThemedaTriandra, and Bothr/ochloa ischaemum.The most three types; Typical Meadow, Marsh Meadow, and Salt common shrubs are V/tax negundo and Zizyphus spinosa. Meadow. (5) AlpIne Steppe occurs over much of the Tibetan Pla- (1) TypIcal Meadow occurs as a type under somewhat teau at elevations of 4,000 to 5,000 m. The most important moister conditions than Meadow Steppe, and is located in dominants are St/pa purpurea and several cushion plants: the forest zone proper as well as in and near the zone of Androsace tapete and Arenaria musciformis. This type of transition to forest. The dominant plants are mesophytic steppe is suited to grazing by yak and Tibetan sheep. forbs. Members of the L/liaceae are common, particularly Lu/urn dauricum and Hemerocall/srn/nor both of which are Moisture and Temperature RelationshipsIn Steppe widely distributed in Typical Meadowsof far easternAsia. The relationship of the five steppe types to moisture and (2) Marsh Meadow occupies imperfectly drained low- temperature gradients are shown in Figure 2. Typical Steppe lying habitats throughout the grassland region and also in 126 Rangelands 10(3), June 1988 The typica. .ishionplants in the Alpine Steppe—rockjasmine— scatter on the TibetanPlateau where the altitude is 4,500 meters. the forest region. The vegetation is composed of hygrophi- the Achnatherumsplendens salt meadowcovers the alkali-salinesoil bus herbs, mostly of Cyperaceaeand particularly spe- in the semiaridregion ofChina. Thereis much saltof florescence on des of Carex and Kobresia. the soil surface and grassesare sparse. absent becauseof the long wintercoupled with a short but dry and windy spring. Because 60 percent of the annual precipitation coincides with the warm season,a midsummer dormant season does not occur. Therefore, plant growth is concentrated in the period June to August when a single peak in the production curve occurs. Climatic conditions greatly affect certain characteristics of thevegetation that are important to livestock production (Table 1). Table 1. Nutrient contents ofherbs In variousSteppes (%). Coeffi- Nitrogen- cient of Crude Crude Crude free Type humidity protein fat fiber extract Ash Meadow steppe 0.6 -1.0 6.63 3.29 23.27 49.25 4.96 Typical steppe 0.3 -0.06 13.16 2.93 28.66 30.16 5.80 Desert steppe 0.13-0.3 14.78 2.92 28.13 29.51 6.05 Sedge Marsh Meadow covers the beaches of lakes and basins betweenmountains ofTibet-plateau, and the sedgemakes up many hillocks. With increasing dryness, protein content of the herbage increaseswhile N-free extract decreases.Herbage with high (3) Salt Meadow characterizes saline and alkaline low- C to N ratiosin Meadow is well suited to areas in various the and desert Steppes production lying parts of grassland ofcattle, whileTypical Steppes and DesertSteppes are bet- zones.The vegetationconsists ofsalt-tolerant herbssuch as ter for sheep to produce wool. Camels can make the dominant Achnatherum that grazing widespread splendens good use of the herbageof DessertSteppes which has high reaches heights of 120to 200 cm. ash content. Characteristics of the Grasslands Developmentof GrasslandAgriculture Various characteristics distinguish these grasslandsfrom Grassland agriculture has developed rapidly in China othersin the North Temperate Zone. Ephemeral plants are Nangelancis 1U(3), June 19 11 since the mid-century, based on a combination of natural The productsof grassland agriculture are also important and seeded forages. The value of outputs from grassland forexport, contributing about one-seventhof the grossvalue agriculture in 1983was 10times that in 1949, and itpresently of Chinese export trade. This figure is expected to increase amounts to more than 15 percent of the gross value of all further as a result of China's open trade policy. Thus grass- agricultural products (Table 2). The proportion is expected land agriculture is expected to play an increasingly impor- to continue to increase to 20 percent by 1990 and to 40 tant economic role, particularly in the developmentof west- percent by the year 2000. ern China. Because of population distribution, economic develop- Table 2. Output of grassland agriculture compared to the total ment is likely to be focussed on sparsely settled grassland agricultural output In China,for selected years 1949to 1983. areasfor the rest of this century. In the northwest nearly one ____________________________________________________ million km2of grassland with high potential are notat present Percentof total fully utilized. Even in those grasslandsthat are presently in Grasslandagriculture value of agricultural use, replacementof the current unrestrainedgrazing practi- Year Production ____________________________________________________(billion yuan) ces with asystem of rest-rotation grazing in fenced areasis 1949 3.37 12.4 expected to increase herbage production by 20 percent. 1957 6.90 12.9 Emphasisis being given toselection, breeding, and exper- 1962 4.45 10.3 of Morethan 30 1965 8.27 14.0 imentalseeding foragecrops. seed-production 1975 17.94 14.0 centres have been established that now supply in excess of 1978 19.30 13.2 17,000 tonnes of forage seeds per year. 1979 22.12 14.0 Some7,000 km ofshelterbelts have beenplanted in north- 1980 23.67 14.4 ern China to control soil erosion. 1981 35.96 15.2 1983 30.70 15.5 A recently developed feed-processing industry supplies morethan three million tonnes of mixed feed and formula per has been so successful in coun- year. Cropland agriculture my means that it an diet of foods to On rangeland,attention is being given to additional try provides adequate plant nearly the area seeded 7 of increasingstocking rates.Expansion of of one-fourth of the world's human population from only is one ofthe area of of the earth's total arable land. This success has grassland,which at present only percent percent the natural would assist in the further increasedthe demand for more meat,milk, and eggs grassland, greatly recently of grassland agriculture. (Fig. 3). development
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