TY - EJOUR
AU - Rotich, Hillary Kipngetich
AU - Onwonga, Richard
AU - Koech, Oscar
AU - Mbau, Judith
PY - 2024
DA - January
TI - Projected Changes in Soil Organic Carbon Stocks over a 50-Year Period under Different Grazing Management Systems in Semi-Arid Grasslands of Kenya
T2 - Journal of Rangeland Science
VL - 10
L1 - https://oiccpress.com/journal-of-rangeland-science/article/projected-changes-in-soil-organic-carbon-stocks-over-a-50-year-period-under-different-grazing-management-systems-in-semi-arid-grasslands-of-kenya/
N2 - Rangeland cover approximately 85% of Kenya’s land mass and is a major resource for livestock farming with a considerable potential to mitigate climate change, yet these lands are stressed differently by various management. Our study aimed at predicting the long-term changes in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in grazing lands of Kenya under different grazing management systems (rotational, continuous and ungrazed), for a 50-year period using RothC 26.3. This research was conducted on a commercial grazing ranch which practices the two grazing management systems. Soil samples were collected at the depths of 0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm for the determination of soil organic carbon concentrations and bulk densities, results were later used for running the RothC model. The predicted results showed that the rate of SOC stock [t/ha] was higher under rotational grazing system in comparison to ungrazed and continual grazing system for the modelling period of 2015-2064. In the absence of grazing, the system was predicted to accumulate 19.22 Mg C ha-1 of SOC at the rate of 0.369 Mg C ha-1yr-1, whereas rotational grazing system was predicted to accumulate 30.46 Mg C ha-1 at the rate of 0.61 Mg C ha-1yr-1. The continual grazing management system resulted in the accrual of 18.49 Mg C ha-1 at the rate of 0.37 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 over 50 years. Thus, rotationally grazing management system have the potential of accumulating soil organic carbon in semi-arid grasslands.
IS - 4
PB - OICC Press
KW - Rangelands, Free-range management, RothC, Grazing systems, SOC 
EN -