Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 80 2000 213–226
Botanical composition, soil and forage quality under different management regimes in Russian grasslands
E.A. Mikhailova
a,∗
, R.B. Bryant
a
, D.J.R. Cherney
b
, C.J. Post
a
, I.I. Vassenev
c
a
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, 905 Bradfield Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
b
Department of Animal Sciences, Cornell University, 327 Morrison Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
c
Russian Institute of Agronomy and Soil Erosion Control, K. Marx St., 70B, Kursk 305021, Russia Received 11 June 1999; received in revised form 25 January 2000; accepted 10 February 2000
Abstract
Little is known on how management of Russian native grasslands affects botanical composition, soil and forage properties. Three fields were sampled in the V.V. Alekhin Central-Chernozem Biosphere State Reserve in the Kursk region of Russia: a
native grassland not cultivated for at least 300 years, a grazedhay field with 4 years of annual harvest followed by 1 year of rest periodically-cut grazedhay field, and a yearly-cut grazedhay field. Soil samples were collected from the top 10 cm
and analyzed. Plant species were identified at the sampling sites and this plant material was used to determine total elemental analysis of forage, crude protein CP, neutral detergent fiber NDF, acid detergent fiber ADF, in vitro true digestibility
IVTD and lignin concentrations. Above-ground live and dead plant material and roots were analyzed for C, N and lignin. Soil sample analysis showed that fields were comparable in terms of soil chemical and physical properties. SOC and N
contents were not statistically different in the native and yearly grazedhay fields. Soil bulk density significantly increased as a result of utilization, from 0.80±0.09 Mg m
− 3
for the native grassland to 0.97±0.06 Mg m
− 3
for the yearly grazedhay field. A total of 107 different plant species were recorded at the three fields. There were changes in plant composition among
the fields. The native grassland field had the least number of plant species 41 followed by the yearly-cut grazedhay field 68, and the periodically-cut grazedhay field 87. There was a greater proportion of grass species 20 in the native
grassland field. Dead plant biomass and roots from the grazedhay fields were higher in N and lignin concentrations. Forage mineral concentration was highest in the periodically-cut hay field. No significant differences were observed in terms of forage
properties. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Native grasslands; Botanical composition; Soil quality; Forage quality; Russia
1. Introduction
Native grasslands are a unique part of the world ecosystem and it is important to preserve and maintain
the genetic and ecological integrity of native ecosys-
∗
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-607-255-5414; fax: +1-607-255-2644.
E-mail address: em10cornell.edu E.A. Mikhailova
tems Richards et al., 1997. Changing social and eco- nomic values in Russia are leading to policies that seek
to maximize profits obtained from agricultural land. Very often, grasslands are associated with fertile soils,
and are therefore converted into high-value cash crop systems. This trend is predominant in the Kursk region
of Russia, where vast areas are managed for wheat, sugar beet, sunflower and alfalfa production. These
crops supplant native grasslands, thereby destroying
0167-880900 – see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 7 - 8 8 0 9 0 0 0 0 1 4 8 - 1
214 E.A. Mikhailova et al. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 80 2000 213–226
native ecosystems. It is estimated that there are not more than 70 plant species spread over 1440 million ha
of presently cultivated landscape in the world Al- tieri, 1999, a sharp contrast with the diversity of plant
species found within 1 m
2
of a native grassland in the Kursk region of Russia, which can contain as many as
77 plant species Alekhin, 1934. Tilman 1999 ar- gues that greater plant biodiversity leads to a greater
stability in the ecosystems using a long-term study in Minnesota grasslands.
Conversion of native grassland to cropland with- out adequate fertilization usually leads to deteriora-
tion in soil properties Ponomareva and Nikolaeva, 1965; Afanasyeva, 1966; Mikhailova et al., 2000.
Mikhailova et al. 2000 showed that cultivation of chernozems in the Kursk region of Russia can lead
to SOC and N losses well beyond the plow layer 0–30 cm, down to 80 cm in a continuously cropped
field and down to 130 cm in a continuously fallow field. This finding implies that the CO
2
emission from the chernozem soils as a result of cultivation
may be much higher than predicted by some esti- mates. Studies on the soil biota of these grassland
ecosystems showed that soil macrofauna biodiversity decreased in the following sequence: native grass-
landperiodically-cut grazedhay fieldpasturebarley fieldlong-term continuous fallow Pokarzhevskij
et al., 1989; Pokarzhevskii and Krivolutskii, 1997.
Managing native grasslands for pasture or hay col- lection can maintain some of their unique botanical
composition, soil quality and minimize CO
2
emission from this soil type as a result of cultivation. There is
ample data to suggest that limited harvesting, by an- imal or mechanical means, has beneficial effects on
grassland ecology. Bekker et al. 1997 in a study of 38 grassland sites in western Europe concluded that
lack of management resulted in the loss of grassland species from both the vegetation and the soil seed bank
due to invasion of woodland species. Renzhong and Ripley 1997 also noted that species diversity was
greatest at an intermediate grazing intensity and least in lightly managed areas of Leymus chinensis grass-
land on the Songnen plain of northeastern China. Both of these studies indicate, however, that over-grazing
or intensive management resulted in degradation of grasslands. The effects of grazing and hay collection
on soil organic C and N are less understood. A review of a world-wide 236-site data set on effects of grazing
on soil and vegetation found no clear relationship be- tween species composition, root biomass, SOC and N
Milchunas and Lauenroth, 1993. These inconclusive findings demonstrate the complexity of interactions in
grassland ecosystems.
The viability of native grasslands can be sustained by providing an economic incentive for keeping these
lands intact or under limited utilization. The ex- ceptional botanical richness of these sites Alekhin,
1934 has not been ignored by Kursk entrepreneurs, who have been using plants collected from the native
grasslands to produce an alcoholic balsam named ‘Streletskaya Steppe’. Local farmers use these na-
tive grasslands as pasture and hay collection fields. High positive correlation between nutritional quali-
ties of pasture and milk products has been found in other parts of the world Licitra et al., 1997, where
botanical richness is comparable to that found in the grasslands of the Kursk region of Russia. The char-
acterization of pastures by species, forage and soil quality can be used to evaluate potential economic
uses for example, production of unique milk and cheese products of the native grasslands.
This research encompasses a field study in the V.V. Alekhin Central-Chernozem Biosphere State Reserve
in the Kursk region of Russia. The study addresses the following questions: i How does plant composition
change with different management regimes in native grasslands? and ii How does management of native
grasslands affect soil and forage properties?
2. Materials and methods
