SUITABILITY-DEGREE OF GRASSLAND GRAZING AND STRATEGIES FOR PASTURE MANAGEMENT
草地放牧适宜度理论及牧场管理策略

It is no doubt that to identify the suitable carrying capacity is important in the sustainable utilization of grassland. As the confusion exists in properly understanding the relationship between carrying capacity and stocking rate, in this paper the concepts of carrying capacity and related terms are firstly reviewed, and then the difference and correlations among them are discussed. Furthermore, the suitable-degree of grazing on grassland is put forward and its connotation is defined in this paper. The major conclusions are as follows, the carrying capacity is the number of livestock that can subsist on a unit area over a specified period in theory, and the stocking rate is the number of livestock that grazes on a unit area over a specified period in practice. The carrying capacity is the upper limit of the stocking rate. If the stocking rate surpasses the carrying capacity, the grassland will be overgrazed, which will further result in the grassland degradation. In other words, the suitability-degree of grazing is the utilization intensity of grassland grazing under maximum economic profit and sustainable forage and livestock production.