About Book

Grass is the most important, yet often overlooked, resource for livestock production. Well-managed grassland provides the most economic feed throughout the year, either as grazing or conserved forage. Grassland management can be defined as human intervention in regions dominated by grass vegetation to achieve predetermined goals. Ecological intensification in grasslands can be regarded as a process for increasing forage production while maintaining high levels of ecosystem functions and biodiversity. As specific management is one of the main drivers of ecosystem functioning. Grassland management can influence agronomic and environmental properties not only directly through external inputs (labour, sowing, and fertilization) but also indirectly through responses of plant species composition and trait values to specific management type such as date of use, management type or intensity, and their subsequent effects on ecosystem properties. This is a wide and multifaceted area of research that opens up new prospects for the management of a biome, which should no longer be considered only as a feed resource for domestic herbivore farming, but also--and above all--as a source of ecosystem services to society and a contributor to the sustainability of agriculture. This book includes the study and classification of wildfire severity, interannual variation in ecosystem, grassland for biogas, shortage of biodiversity, management practices, bioproductivity, grassland systems and grassland vegetation. It aims to determine which components of management can be harnessed to better match forage production and environmental quality. It also deals with simulation model, changing climatic and land use conditions. Some of the diverse topics covered in this book address the varied branches that fall under this field. It brings forth some of the most innovative concepts and elucidates the unexplored aspects of grassland management. Conservationists, microbiologists and forest preservationists will find the book helpful. The readers would gain knowledge that would broaden their perspective about grassland management.

Preface............................................................................................................v

Chapter 1 Strategic Management of Grazing Grassland Systems to Maintain and Increase Organic Carbon in Soils..................................................1

Abstract...................................................................................................2

1. Introduction............................................................................................2

2. Carbon sequestration potential in soils under livestock-associated

pasture management practices...........................................................5

3. Challenges and opportunities to improve SOC storage in pasture

management systems..........................................................................15

4. Conclusions..........................................................................................18

Chapter 2 Effectiveness of Grassland Vegetation on a Temporary Capped Landfill Site................................................................................................27

Abstract ................................................................................................27

1. Introduction..........................................................................................28

2. Materials and methods......................................................................29

3. Results...................................................................................................35

4. Discussion.............................................................................................40

5. Conclusion............................................................................................42

Chapter 3 Forage Yield Estimation with a Process-Based Simulation

Model...........................................................................................................46

Abstract.................................................................................................46

1. Introduction..........................................................................................47

2. ALMANAC model simulated processes........................................50

3. Soils and weather data.......................................................................58

4. Deriving plant parameters for a forage species and accommodating

ecotypes.................................................................................................59

5. Model testing against independent data........................................61

6. Knowledge gaps and areas for future improvement as a guide

for additional research.......................................................................62

7. Conclusions..........................................................................................63

Acknowledgements.............................................................................64

Conflict of interest..............................................................................64

Chapter 4 Management Practices and Bioproductivity in Grassland

of Dry Areas...............................................................................................68

Abstract.................................................................................................68

1. Introduction..........................................................................................69

2. The stage of extensive livestock farming, its impact on grassland

ecosystems .........................................................................................70

3. Productive reconversion and manage-ment practices in arid land

grasses...................................................................................................74

4. Conclusions..........................................................................................83

Acknowledgements.............................................................................83

Chapter 5 Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Nitrogen Fertilizer in

Forage Grasses...........................................................................................89

Abstract.................................................................................................89

1. Introduction..........................................................................................90

2. Nitrogen-use efficiency......................................................................91

3. The 4R’s for N-fertilizer in forage grass........................................92

4. N-concentration and crude protein (CP) content in forage dry

matter...................................................................................................101

5. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in grazed pasture under

N-fertilizer..........................................................................................102

6. Concluding remarks.........................................................................104

Chapter 6 Modification in Grassland Ecology under the Influence of Changing

Climatic and Land Use Conditions....................................................111

Abstract...............................................................................................111

1. Introduction........................................................................................112

2. Materials and methods....................................................................114

3. Results and discussion.....................................................................118

4. Conclusion..........................................................................................129

5. Future perspective.............................................................................129

Acknowledgements...........................................................................129

Chapter 7 Shortage of Biodiversity in Grassland..............................................137

1. Introduction........................................................................................137

2. Grass production...............................................................................137

3. Forage species....................................................................................140

4. Importance of soil in the pasture production system...............145

5. Nutritional differences.....................................................................148

6. Conclusion..........................................................................................149

Chapter 8 Utilization of Permanent Grassland for Biogas Production........154

1. Introduction........................................................................................154

2. Importance of permanent grassland.............................................155

3. Functions of permanent grassland................................................156

4. Primary productions and energy balance of permanent

grassland ............................................................................................159

5. Biogas production from permanent grassland............................176

6. Conclusion .........................................................................................182

7. Acknowledgment..............................................................................183

Chapter 9 Modeling of the Interannual Variation in Ecosystem Respiration of a Semiarid Grassland.......................................................................189

1. Introduction........................................................................................189

2. Methods .............................................................................................190

3. Results and discussion ...................................................................194

4. Conclusions .......................................................................................200

5. Acknowledgment .............................................................................200

Chapter 10 Impacts of Wildfire Severity on Hydraulic Conductivity in Forest, Woodland, and Grassland Soils..........................................................204

1. Introduction........................................................................................204

2. Forest, woodland, and grassland soils ........................................206

3. Fire effects on ecosystems ..............................................................207

4. Fire severity effects on soils ..........................................................211

5. Forest, woodland, and grassland soil hydraulic conductivity.214

6. Fire effects on hydraulic conductivity .........................................217

7. Conclusion .........................................................................................220

Citation......................................................................................................231

Index...........................................................................................................233

About Author

Garry Oakenfold received his M.Sc. Degree in Agricultural Land Use from Public Research University, Narvik. He is serving as a Guest Lecturer at Science University, Hólar. Oakenfold holds prominent memberships of international agricultural associations and has been an active participant at international conferences and forums. He has authored and edited a number of academic periodicals, journal papers, articles and books in the field of grassland management. Oakenfold’s works have been published in various books as reference materials for researchers.