记者从中国科学院植物研究所获悉，该所浑善达克沙地生态研究站研究人员提出了将牧鸡引入传统草地畜牧业的畜禽草耦合模式，形成了一种全新的土地利用方式。该研究结果日前在线发表于国际学术期刊《土地退化与发展（Land Degradation & Development）》杂志上。

该所工程师苏华和研究员李永庚等科研人员通过牧鸡、牧羊和围封三种土地利用方式的对比实验发现，适度牧鸡能够显著促进植被生长、提高土壤质量，其效果优于牧羊；而通过调控牧鸡密度，其效果亦可优于围封。研究人员进一步通过成本-收益分析发现，牧民家庭通过畜、禽、草耦合的方式开展生产可大幅提高草地生产力和收入。

退化草地恢复是目前研究的热点之一。我国约90%的草地存在不同程度的退化，影响其生态系统服务功能和生产功能的发挥。在退化草地上施行围封禁牧措施被普遍认为是最为有效的恢复手段，但资源、环境、人口之间的矛盾以及生态与生产之间的矛盾依然尖锐，亟需探索能够促进退化草地生态和生产功能双提升的恢复模式。（来源：中国科学报 丁佳）

Introducing chicken farming into traditional ruminant-grazing dominated production systems for promoting ecological restoration of degraded rangeland in northern China

Abstract  Free-range chicken farming (CF) has been demonstrated to be effective in controlling locust plagues and restoring degraded vegetation in rangelands. However, the effects of CF on vegetation growth and soil conditions of rangeland ecosystems are not yet well known. We studied the effects of CF (treated by three stocking rates from low- to high-intensity), livestock grazing (LG) and zero grazing (ZG) on vegetation characteristics and soil nutrient conditions in a degraded rangeland of northern China. CF significantly improved vegetation growth and soil quality compared with LG. The moderate CF2 with 333 birds per ha enhanced the aboveground net primary production to 204.0 g m-2 yr-1 and vegetation cover to 88.8%, which is significantly higher than LG by 80.7% and 62.9%, respectively. Moreover, CF2 neutralized the pH value and raised soil organic matter, total N content, available N content and available P content to approximately 7.59 g kg-1, 0.34 g kg-1, 83.52 mg kg-1and 3.4 mg kg-1, respectively. Compared with ZG, the positive impacts of CF on rangelands depended on the stocking rate, and better performance was achieved when lower stocking rates were used. We also analyzed the economic benefits of CF through a cost-benefit analysis. A local family could obtain a net present value of at least $252.19 per ha by engaging in CF, which was two-fold higher than LG. Finally, we proposed a novel land-use model that introduces CF into traditional LG dominated system and can be widely applied to promote socio-ecological sustainable development in degraded rangelands.

原文链接：http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ldr.2719/pdf