Improving grassland quality in communal arable lands in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

摘要

Overgrazing and shifting cultivation practise have severely degraded communal lands in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Methods need to be developed to improve forage quality of grazing land, especially previously cultivated lands. The aim of the study was to investigate legume species to rehabilitate arable lands abandoned from cropping, to enhance their forage quality, productivity and ecological integrity. The study was conducted in seven communities within the Eastern Cape Province. This studyshowed that within the communal lands studied extensive areas have been cultivated and the majority of this land is now poorly utilised. Natural grasslands ploughed for cropping did not recover its original composition and therefore lost its primary ecological condition. New improved legume cultivars can significantly enhance forage quality on cultivated lands but individual species may not have the resilience to survive nutrient poor lands and variable winter rainfall. This study shows that using a mixture of annual and perennial legume species with different life traits contributed to enhanced forage quality, especially during winter when the nutritional value of grasses was low. Because of management constraints, pasture legumes cannot be seen as stand-alone pastures, but provide a mechanism to extend the forage potential of communal grazing lands.