An Overview of Permanent Grassland Grazing Management Practices and the Impacts on Principal Soil Quality Indicators

• Published in: Agronomy (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 5; p. 1366
• Main Authors: Milazzo, Filippo, Francksen, Richard M., Abdalla, Mohamed, Ravetto Enri, Simone, Zavattaro, Laura, Pittarello, Marco, Hejduk, Stanislav, Newell-Price, Paul, Schils, René L. M., Smith, Pete, Vanwalleghem, Tom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.05.2023
• Subjects: Anthropogenic factors; Climate change; Drought; Drought resistance; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Erosion rates; Floods; Global temperature changes; Grassland management; Grasslands; Grazing; grazing management; Human influences; Indicators; Infiltration (Hydrology); Infiltration rate; management practices; Pasture management; permanent grasslands; Quality control; Soil erosion; Soil management; Soil quality; soil quality indicators; Soils; Sustainable development; United Kingdom; China; Europe
• ISSN: 2073-4395; 2073-4395
• DOI: 10.3390/agronomy13051366

Grasslands are at risk of degradation due to unsustainable management practices and climate change. Here, we review the principal soil quality indicators (SQIs) to evaluate the sustainability of different grassland management practices globally. We discuss the importance of SQI assessment and the Soil Quality Minimum Dataset (MDS) specifically in the context of grasslands. We then review two potential solutions, the first of which is adopting grazing management, whereby sustainable grazing management plans (GMPs) offer great potential. The other solution is the development and adoption of novel grassland species, which may improve either drought resistance or infiltration rates, erosion and flooding. Sustainable grassland soil management can promote ecosystem service delivery and improve the resilience of the entire grassland ecosystem to anthropogenic change.