On-Farm Assessment of Soil Quality in Low and High Grazing Under Integrated Crop-Livestock System in South Dakota

Abstract

Integrated crop-livestock system (ICLS) has the potential to enhance soils quality by improving soil chemical, physical, and biological parameters especially soil organic carbon. objective of this study was to assess the impact of low and high stocking rates (number of animal per hectare) under ICLS on soil quality parameters at the farm scale and the approach of farmers in Getysburg, Roscoe and Selby sites for this system. Study sites located at three different farms that has low stocking rate of cattle grazing. Data from this study showed that low stocking rate under ICLS increased soil organic carbon (SOC) from 20.7 to 28.3 g kg-1, and total nitrogen (TN) from 2.06 to 2.60 g kg-1 at the surface 0-5 cm depth. However, high stocking rates under ICLS decreased the SOC. Low stocking rate under ICLS increased the soil N but it did not impact on soil P significantly. High stocking rate decreased the BG and MBC but low stocking rate increased. High stocking rate increased the soil penetration resistance 2.43 to 2.83 MPa. Further, data showed that the low stocking rate under ICLS improved the soil quality index (SQI) while high stocking rate under ICLS decreased it. This study showed that ICLS with low stocking density can be beneficial in enhancing soil quality at the farm scale.

Keywords

• integrated crop-livestock system
• soil organic carbon
• soil quality