Ringmark Sara, Skarin Anna, Jansson Anna
Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Animal Nutrition and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
Animals (Basel). 2019 Jul 29;9(8):500. doi: 10.3390/ani9080500.
Horse grazing may benefit biodiversity, but the impact of year-round grazing on nutrient dynamics has not been evaluated previously. This study compared pasture quality in a forest-grassland landscape grazed year-round by horses with that in exclosed mown areas. Twelve Gotlandsruss stallions were kept without supplementary feeding in three enclosures (~0.35 horse/ha) outside Uppsala, Sweden, from May 2014 to September 2016. Each enclosure contained three mown exclosures, where grass sward samples were collected monthly and analyzed for chemical composition and vegetation density. Fecal grab samples were collected and analyzed for crude protein (CP) and organic matter (OM) content. There were no differences in exclosure pasture energy or CP content between enclosures ( > 0.05). In grazed areas, there were differences in grass energy and CP content ( > 0.05) between enclosures. During the three summers studied, energy and CP content increased in the enclosures, but decreased in the exclosures. By the end, biomass content/ha was greater in the enclosures than in the exclosures. Fecal OM and CP content showed moderate to strong correlations with pasture nutrient content ( = 0.3-0.8, < 0.05). Thus, in contrast to monthly mowing, horse grazing diversified pasture chemical composition and increased its nutritive value.
马匹放牧可能有益于生物多样性，但全年放牧对养分动态的影响此前尚未得到评估。本研究比较了全年由马匹放牧的森林 - 草原景观中的牧场质量与封闭割草区域的牧场质量。2014年5月至2016年9月期间，12匹哥特兰罗素种马被饲养在瑞典乌普萨拉郊外的三个围栏中（约0.35匹马/公顷），不进行补充喂养。每个围栏包含三个割草封闭区，每月在那里采集草皮样本并分析其化学成分和植被密度。采集粪便抓取样本并分析其粗蛋白（CP）和有机物（OM）含量。各围栏间封闭区牧场能量或CP含量无差异（P>0.05）。在放牧区，各围栏间草的能量和CP含量存在差异（P>0.05）。在研究的三个夏季期间，围栏内的能量和CP含量增加，但封闭区内则下降。到最后，围栏内每公顷的生物量含量高于封闭区。粪便OM和CP含量与牧场养分含量呈中度至强相关性（r = 0.3 - 0.8，P<0.05）。因此，与每月割草相比，马匹放牧使牧场化学成分多样化并提高了其营养价值。
