Seed germination from dung of sheep and goats grazed on the pasture invaded by wild plants
2005
Kyuma, T.(Shinshu Univ., Minamiminowa, Nagano (Japan). Faculty of Agriculture) | Nagae, Y.
This study was conducted to compare the plant number and their species geminating from dung of sheep or goats. These animals were grazed on a pasture with mixed, and on another pasture only sheep were grazed. Both pastures were considerably invaded by various wild plants. The dung and the upper layer soils collected from the mixed grazing pasture were incubated in a growth cabinet for 30 days. Obvious differences were observed in the number of germinations and their species between animals or pastures and among seasons. The number of germination from sheep dung on mixed grazing pasture was more than that from goat dung during three grazing seasons. The maximum germination from sheep dung was observed in mid-July, whereas that from goat dung was in early-October. The main plant species geminating from sheep dung were Poa pratensis L. in mid-July, and those were Fesuca ovina L., Agrostis alba L. and Trifolium repence L. in early October. On the other hand, those from goat dung were Poa pratensis L. and Anthoxanthum odratum, L. in mid-July, and those were mainly forbs (dicotyledones) such as Elsholtzia ciliata (Thunb.) Hylander in early-October. Those results reveal that the number and plants species germinating from dung may be affected by vegetation of pasture, grazing season and particularly herbage selection of grazing animal.
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