Propagule regulation technique in grasslands: cultivation and transplantation of “propagule island”

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2024.0125

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The severe degradation of grassland ecosystems is restricting China’s ecological security and economic development, and this makes it a scientific and technological challenge for pastoral areas to effectively restore degraded grasslands. To date, multiple grazing management and human assisted improvement techniques have been developed, the implementation of these techniques played important roles in grassland restoration, but their effectiveness was constrained for degraded grasslands with severe damaged community structure and propagule shortage.

Methods We introduce a propagule regulation technique which can remove propagule limitation and target at restoring moderately and severely degraded grasslands. This technique includes two key technical aspects, namely, cultivation and transplantation of “propagule island”. The cultivation of “propagule island” is planting high-quality forage combining with nutrient management to promote the rapid growth of rhizomes (or lateral buds), i.e., cultivating “propagule island” with rich propagule pool (tiller rhizomes or branching buds). The transplantation of “propagule island” is replenishing the propagule pool to degraded grasslands, and restores grasslands relying on clonal growth (or asexual reproduction) of high-quality forage.

Important findings The main purpose of this technique is to rapidly restore the structure and function of communities in degraded grasslands taking the advantages of clonal growth of high-quality forage. According to the technical demonstration in the meadow grassland, “propagule island” of Leymus chinensis and Medicago falcatahad significant effects on restoration, and they increased the productivity of the two communities from 214.5 to 358.7 and 286.4 g·m^-2, respectively. They also increased the proportions of high-quality forage from 18.4% to 54.7% and 31.5%, respectively. This technique can provide important data and technical supports for the targeted restoration of propagule-restricted grasslands.

Key words: grassland degradation, grassland restoration, propagule, propagule island, cultivation, transplantation

SUN Jia-Mei, AN Bing-Er, LIU Wei, WANG Jing, PAN Qing-Min. Propagule regulation technique in grasslands: cultivation and transplantation of “propagule island”[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2025, 49(1): 129-137.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2024.0125

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2025/V49/I1/129

Figures/Tables 3

Fig. 1 Differences in seed bank and bud bank of high-quality forage between degraded (A) and enclosed (B) grassland communities (mean ± SD). Data resources: northern temperate grassland (Pan et al., 2023), Qingzang alpine grassland (Deng et al., 2012; Wang, 2022), and southern grassy hills and slopes (Han et al., 2023). *, p < 0.05.

Fig. 2 Plant individuals and tiller buds of “propagule island” of Leymus chinensis and Medicago falcata under control and nutrient addition treatment (propagule island (ea) size: 9 cm in diameter and 12 cm in depth) (mean ± SD). *, p < 0.05.

Fig. 3 Transplantation of “propagule island” of Leymus chinensis (A) and Medicago falcata (B), and the effects of restoration on community productivity (C) and high-quality forage proportion (D) (mean ± SD). *, p < 0.05.

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