Calculation method and application of the tradeoff on water, land, forage, and livestock in family pasture considering forage quality

Most pastoral areas in China are subjected to arid and semi-arid zones, particularly with annual precipitation of less than 400 mm. Since irrigation is indispensable for the cultivated grass industry, the protection of natural grassland can focus on the water, land, forage, and livestock balance with the development of the irrigation cultivated grasslands, rather than the forage-livestock balance only. Taking the specific pastoral management units as the entry point, this study aims to propose a new evaluation for the tradeoff between the water and land for the family pasture from the perspective of the water cycle. A water-land-forage-livestock balance was constructed to consider the quality differences between forage species in the calculation of the forage-livestock balance. An example was taken as the typical family pasture in the Otog Front Banner of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China. The assessment showed that the current water, land, forage, and livestock status of the family pasture were in a mild overload state, with a water resource overload rate of 6.05%. In the condition of water, land, forage, and livestock balance, the livestock overload rates with/without considering forage quality were 5.38% and 12.98%, respectively. By contrast, the livestock overload rates with/without considering forage quality were 1.29%, and 9.05%, respectively, under current planting conditions (without considering water resource overload). An optimal combination of water-use schemes was proposed to feature the different planting structures and irrigation adjustments, according to the status quo in this family pasture. A systematic analysis was made to determine the available water supply, and the carrying capacity for the irrigation of cultivated grasslands, and livestock under multiple optimizations. It was found that the carrying capacity was determined for the irrigation of cultivated grasslands by the available water supply. More water-efficient irrigation was adopted to select the forage crops with the decreased water consumption, in order to significantly improve the support capacity of water resources in the irrigation-cultivated grasslands. Livestock carrying capacity significantly increased after considering the forage quality, indicating more consistency with the actual condition of this family pasture. Consequently, the family pasture was maintained the current areas of cultivated grassland without increasing, while adjusting the irrigation of alfalfa to underground drip irrigation. Once the irrigation form was adjusted to drip irrigation under the condition of oat planting, the number of livestock was reduced to 464 sheep units, in order to maintain the balance of water, land, forage, and livestock in the family pasture. Furthermore, the oats were adjusted to grow the corn or alfalfa in the median condition of oats. Although the number of livestock was more than the current number of livestock, some suggestions can keep the current number of livestock raised in family pastures, in order to make more room for the rest and recuperation of water resources and natural grassland. The finding can provide a new approach to calculating and managing the water, land, forage, and livestock balance in pastoral areas. © 2023 Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering. All rights reserved.