LPM 121: Fodder Production and Grassland Management (1+1)

GRASSLAND IMPROVEMENT AND MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

• The main objective in the management of grassland is to secure the maximum production of livestock without any detrimental effect to the productivity of grass land.
• It is therefore essential to see that the grassland under consideration is kept at its peak level of productivity as long as possible. Decline of herbage productivity may be due to bad drainage or lack of sufficient nutrients in the soil or over grazing.
• It is easy enough to recognize defects like bad drainage in soils by the presence of species that are typical of swampy location such as Cyperus spp. wildrice, Panicum repens. In such case the productivity grass lands can be improved by adopting follow measures.
• The methods to be adopted for the improvement of such areas will be mainly mechanical, designed to remove excess water from the soil. Nutrients and physiological defects may be caused by the lack of any one or more of the essential plant nutrients.
• Continued removal of the grass cover and consequent leaching may deplete the soil of plant nutrients so much that they become limiting factors in the growth of vegetation. In such cases the productivity of grassland can be restored only by the use of fertilizers to supply the deficient elements.
• The majority of grass lands will as a rule beneficial by applications of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers.
  • Weed control (Bush control)
  • Burning of grass lands
  • Enclosure of grass lands
  • Reseeding
  • Conservation of soil and moisture
  • Grazing management