Growth depression of common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin.) by cattle grazing, 1: The effect of grazing pressure on growth and development of common reed
1999
Uchida, T. (Iwate Univ., Morioka (Japan)) | Sugiura, T. | Kobayashi, H.
The depression of common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trim.) by cattle grazing is required for an effective diversion of abandoned paddy fields. In the present study, 72-hour-grazing of two heads of cattle was repeated in a common reed dominated paddy field (10a) at an interval of approximately one month in order to find a method of depressing common reed vegetation by cattle grazing. The results are summarized as follows; (I) The common reed regenerated numerous aerial shoots at a certain period after the grazing treatment to compensate for the aboveground organs lost by grazing. (2) The majority of aerial shoots regenerated after the grazing treatment originated from vertical rhizomes which sprouted in abundance during the growing period. (3) The number of dormant buds attached to rhizomes decreased as vertical rhizomes sprouted as aerial shoots. This indicated that the number of aerial shoots formed and/or compensated would decrease in the future. (4) Bulk density of the rhizomes, indicating the amount of subterranean reserve substances, decreased as vertical rhizomes sprouted as aerial shoots. Based on the above results, we conclude that cattle grazing at regular intervals is effective method of weakening and depressing common reed vegetation because vertical rhizomes sprout as aerial shoots numerously at a certain period after the grazing treatment
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