Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

The Russian Steppe 403
of both milk and cereals are not high enough. Such farming is prodigal with
land, nutrients and labour. In the continuing debate on how to preserve the
environmental resource base, it is high time to point out that there can be no
excuse for the deterioration of very large areas of land in order to produce
crops or livestock at such low efficiency (Boonman, 1993).
Efforts towards intensification need not necessarily imply high costs. Lowinput
strategies must optimize results from the efforts already made. Correct
timing can double the effect of a particular input, e.g. early sowing or fertilizer
application. Conversely, cash inputs should not be dismissed too lightly as
“uneconomic” or “outside the reach of poor farmers” because it is well known
that farmers recognize and adopt an improvement (e.g. using seed of a superior
new cultivar) when they see its value. Dairy production is a profitable part of
mixed farming since milk , if produced throughout the year, tends to command
high prices and bring in regular cash income. Great advances are often made by
simple measures, especially in animal nutrition .
As for grass resources , natural grasslands may seen insignificant in their
outward appearance and even less so in their response to improved husbandry.
In spring their start is slow and growth ceases earlier in autumn , compared with
elite sown grasses. However with the same amount of intelligent care, primary
(natural or virgin ) grassland often needs no replacement at all by sown pasture
grasses, let alone by legumes. Secondary grassland (fallow land) is not very
static as it passes through its various stages of transition or succession, which
differ with different husbandry systems . If the rhizomatous or Agropyron
stages are the most productive of all, it is advantageous to extend and maintain
that phase for as long as possible. Rotational grazing shows advantage over
continuous grazing in situations where the quantity of available herbage is low,
and this is the case throughout the year on most of the steppe. The proportion
of desirable grasses, legumes or herbs can be manipulated with the aid of the
grazing animal. Cutting can be another useful tool. Many hay meadows, in
well -watered if not periodically flooded areas, have developed under age-long
haymaking . Apart from providing feed for winter , cutting would seem an automatic
tool to control many shrubs.
MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS
Grazing
Grazing is the most potent of biotic factors; many palatable, annual herbs
disappear forthwith. Russian authors at one time generally held that taller
grasses, especially those with sizeable aftermath, maintain themselves well in
hay meadows but much less under grazing only and are, consequently grazed
out first. In the steppe, Stipa capillata is such an example, compared with
Festuca sulcata , Euagropyron spp. and Koeleria gracilis . A note of caution needs
to be sounded here. No doubt, some of the less competitive species may have
long flowering culms. Between species, however, height of the vegetative sward