Thesis (MSc. (Pasture Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / South Africa is regarded as a semi-arid area; only 28% of the country receives more than 600 mm rainfall recorded annually. Sustainable utilization of cool season fodder grasses in summer rainfall areas to produce winter animal feed remains a major problem. Farmers are affected by a shortage of adequate, good quality herbage for livestock during winter and dry periods on commercial farms. The study aimed to evaluate and compare the production potential of six Festulolium hybrids, three Dactylis species, and five Lolium hybrids and three grass-legume mixtures in the summer rainfall area. A total of 17 cultivars were evaluated for their DM production under the treatment of different fertilizer levels on three planting dates (16 March 2011, 21 April 2011 and 4 April 2012). The study was carried out at Hygrotech Seed Company (Experimental site), Dewagensdrift in Moloto Village outside Pretoria in the Gauteng Province. Data was collected on a monthly basis from sub-plots of 1 m x 1 m (m2) in 51 plots of 1.5 m x 6 m (9 m2), with nine rows that were 10 cm apart arranged under RCBD with three replicates per cultivar. Harvested fresh samples were taken, weighed, dried at 60ºC until they reached a constant dry weight and weighed to determine DM content. A Fischer’s protected LSD at the 5 % level was performed to compare the treatment means. Over a period of three years of study, it shows that the low fertilizer level resulted in the lowest DM production, with no significant difference occurring between medium and high fertilizer levels. To achieve optimum DM production with minimum cost medium fertilizer is recommended. The cultivars responded differently to the three different planting dates. The time of planting had an effect on DM production in winter. It is recommended that Festulolium hybrids and Lolium hybrids be planted earlier (March) for better DM production in winter. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Fire is generally used as a management tool for different vegetation types such as savannas and grasslands in southern Africa. In the False Thornveld of the Eastern Cape, fire is commonly used to control bush encroachment and to increase grass production, as grasses are important source of forage for domestic livestock. At the University of Fort Hare farm in the Eastern Cape, a trial was set up in 1980 to investigate the effect of burning frequency on vegetation. There are six treatments replicated twice in a completely randomized design on a 100 m x 50 m plots. The treatments comprise no burn, annual, biennial, triennial, quadrennial and sexennial burns. From this trial a study was conducted to investigate long term effect of burning frequency on species and soil seed bank diversity. Two 100 m line transects located 25 m apart were laid within each plot, and the herbaceous and woody species were identified and recorded along the line transects. Relative abundances (%) for each species were calculated for each treatment. Soil samples were collected at an interval of 13.3 m along the line transects. The samples were placed in paper bags and kept for use in a germination experiment. The seedling emergence germination method was used in the glasshouse to determine emerging seedlings, pots were filled with Hygromix growth medium and the soils from the fire trials 12 X 6 = 72 were spread on top. Soil from the control plots were also pre-treated with heat, smoke and the combination of heat and smoke. The experiment started in January 2010 and was terminated in April 2010. The Shannon-Weaver Diversity Index was used to determine species diversity for standing vegetation and germinated seedlings. Data were tested for normality and species abundances were transformed. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was applied to test treatment effects on geminated seedlings, species abundance and diversity at α = 0.05 significance level. Significant differences between treatment means were determined by post v hoc tests using Fischer‟s Least Significant Difference test at α = 0.05. The Pearson Moment Correlation test was used to test the relationship between vegetation and soil seed banks. Treatments had significant effects on herbaceous, woody species abundance and diversity (P < 0.05), but there was no significant treatment effect on soil seed bank diversity and on pre-germination treatments (P > 0.05). The annual, biennial and triennial burns were dominated by Themeda triandra while the quadrennial, sexennial and the control treatments were dominated by Sporobolus fimbriatus and Melica decumbens. A. karroo dominated the woody component across all treatments, but it did not change in abundance. S. fimbriatus was the most abundant in the soil seed bank across all the treatments and also in all pre-germination treatments. Species diversity was high in standing vegetation in the quadrennial, sexennial and the control treatments. There was no significant correlation between the standing vegetation and soil seed bank diversities (P > 0.05). Based on these findings it is apparent that fire can change vegetation in an area to be dominated by fire tolerant or fire intolerant species. Fire frequency, heat and smoke affects soil seed banks to a lesser extent in the False Thornveld. For the management of the False Thornveld of the Eastern Cape, less frequent burning is recommended as it increases aboveground species diversity.

MRDV / Institute of Rural Development / See the attached abstract below

In South Africa, communal and/or emerging farmers’ rangeland condition and grazing capacities deteriorate, because grazing capacity is usually over-estimated due to lack of knowledge on veld and livestock production system by the farmers. Woody plants has encroached in the arid and semi-arid savannas and grasslands biomes many parts of world, including in southern Africa. This causes challenges to farm owners due to its negative effects on the herbaceous plant material, which offers a substantial part of forage for livestock production. Although the consequences of deteriorating rangeland condition on livestock production is understood, there is limited research on the impact of land ownership on rangeland condition. Furthermore, knowledge on how farmers manages their livestock and rangelands. The objectives were to document the knowledge of emerging livestock farmers on livestock-rangeland management practices, and to determine the effects of land ownership and practices on rangeland condition. Firstly, we hypothesize that, emerging livestock farmers unknowingly manages livestock in isolation from their rangelands, and secondly, rangeland in private owned lands are relatively in good conditions compared to communal and leased lands. Fifty (50) emerging livestock farmers (i.e. ruminants) in different vegetation types and district municipalities of the Gauteng province were selected using a snowball procedure. To investigate the knowledge of emerging farmers on livestock - rangeland management practices, the farmers were asked questions about their 1) demographic information, 2) livestock management practices and 3) rangeland management practices. To test the differences in farmers’ demographic profiles, Chi-square statistics was employed. To determine the effects of land ownership on rangeland condition of the selected farms, rangeland condition among three land ownership types was compared using ANOVA, and the relations between veld condition score (%) and herbaceous biomass production (kg DM/ha) was tested using Pearson’s correlation analysis The results revealed that, the emerging livestock farmer are dominated by males (68 %) compared to female (32%). Majority (66%) of the farmers are old aged (> 50 years) compared to middle aged (30% (31 – 50 years)) and young (< 30 years) farmers (4%). Farmers who did not receive any agricultural training were higher (74%) than farmers who had prior training (26%). Sixty-three percent of the farmers had knowledge and understanding of breeding and calving seasons of their livestock, with only 27% having no knowledge and understanding of breeding and calving seasons of their animals. Eighty-three percent of the farmers keep mixed livestock (cattle, sheep and goats) species and 17% only keep cattle. The mean cattle herd sizes were significantly lower 8.2 ± 7.16 compared to goats and sheep (15.5 ±11.2). Feed shortage was the major constrain to livestock production (46%) compared to diseases (26%), marketing (14%), stock theft (8%) and other (6%) constrains. Sixty-three percent of the farmers had knowledge and understanding of breeding and calving seasons of their livestock, with only 27% having no knowledge and understanding. Eighty-three percent of the farmers keep mixed livestock (cattle, sheep and goats) species and 17% only keep cattle. All of the farmers indicated that they did not conduct rangeland condition assessment (mainly due to lack of knowledge). All farmers did not have fodder conservation plan for their farms and highlighted that during dry season, forage is scarce for their animals. Majority (58%) of the farmers relay on government-drought relief programme compared to those who were supplementing (20%), selling their animals (14%) and those with no drought coping strategy (8%). v Vegetation was assessed using nearest plant technique. In total, 28 grass species were identified during field survey, of which n=23, n=4 and n=2 were perennials, annuals and short-lived perennial, respectively. The most commonly observed and very palatable grass species, Digitaria eriantha had the highest frequency on private lands (n=92 and the lowest on communal lands (n=51). There were no significance difference in grass species richness and basal cover among land ownership types (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in veld condition score, large stock units, grazing capacity and herbaceous biomass production among land ownership types (P < 0.05). Private lands had a significantly higher veld condition score (69.63%) than leased (56.07%) and communal lands (52.55%). The herbaceous biomass production was positively correlated to the veld condition score (r = 0.159; P<0.005). The outcomes of this study show that emerging livestock farmers in Gauteng province have little understanding of rangeland-livestock management practices. The current results further indicated that poor grazing practices such as overgrazing might be common on leased and communal lands due to farmers’ lack of knowledge on rangeland management practices. This may lead to rangeland degradation thus negatively affecting livestock production and the livelihood of farmers who rely on farming as a source of income. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M. Sc. (Agriculture)