Identifying areas suitable for cultivation of Medicago sativa L. in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia

摘要

Grassland degradation will both constrain the development of animal husbandry and cause deterioration of the ecological environment. Artificial pasture can supply large quantities of forage grass using less land than natural grasslands, thereby releasing some of the grazing pressure on natural grassland, allowing restoration of degraded grassland, and improving the ecological environment. Artificial pasture in scientifically selected areas will also grow faster than natural vegetation. By considering the sensitivity of grassland growth to climate change and the influence of soil characteristics, irrigation, fertilization, and topography on grassland growth, we used the Century model to develop a new method of selecting areas suitable for artificial pasture. Using this method, we identified the areas that are potentially suitable for cultivating Medicago sativa L. in the typical steppes of Inner Mongolia, and verification based on data about the current distribution of artificial pasture showed an accuracy of 82.5 %. The results indicate that our new method is sufficiently reliable that it can be used to identify areas suitable for artificial pasture in Inner Mongolia, and it can also provide an important reference for the future development of artificial pasture.