Multi-species rotational grazing of small ruminants regenerates undergrowth vegetation while controlling weeds in the oil palm silvopastoral system

CONTEXT Prolonged use of synthetic herbicides to control weeds may cause adverse effects on the environment and human wellbeing. As a mitigation effort, commercial oil palm growers have been encouraged to adopt livestock integration as a holistic approach to manage weeds. Previous studies have suggested utilizing a multi-species livestock grazing may optimize the grazing impacts in silvopastoral agroforestry systems. OBJECTIVE Present study examined the effects of small ruminant grazing (i.e., goats, sheep and multi-species) on undergrowth vegetation with the following specific objectives: 1) to investigate the effects of small ruminant grazing treatments on undergrowth vegetation composition in oil palm plantations; 2) to examine the variables (canopy cover, grazing treatments, and cycles) that influenced undergrowth vegetation (species richness, coverage, height, and dry weight) in oil palm plantations. METHODS We established quadrats on experimental plots to detect changes in undergrowth vegetation composition, species diversity, coverage, height, and dry weight resulting from different grazing treatments. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS We found that undergrowth vegetation composition varied between different grazing treatments. The multi-species livestock grazing effectively supress unwanted weeds (i.e., woody broadleaves) compared to single–species livestock grazing (i.e., goats, sheep). The use of single-species livestock grazing is likely to cause oil palm growers to use herbicides to control undesirable weeds. Hence, we concluded managing undergrowth vegetation in oil palm plantations using multi-species livestock grazing is a practical approach, and it should be fine-tuned for example by choosing livestock species based on the targeted objectives and the grazing sequence that will be practiced to regenerate the oil palm silvopastoral system. SIGNIFICANCE Multi-species livestock grazing can reduce oil palm growers' dependence on synthetic herbicides for weed control and optimize land use in oil palm plantation sector. On the other hand, the use of single species, whether goat or sheep-only, has caused unwanted undergrowth to increase after several grazing rotations have been carried out. Therefore, the use of multi-species grazing is a promising biological tool to reduce synthetic herbicide application in environmentally-sustainable oil palm plantations.

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