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| Ecological and Economic Benefit of Chicken Grazing on Hunshandake Sandland |
| SU Benying1,2,3, LI Yonggeng2, SU Hua2, XU Hong2, JIANG Gaoming2,3 |
| 1. College of Agronomy, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, Shandong Province, China |
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Abstract: The feedstuff consumption of chickens grazing on the Hunshandake Sandland was investigated through a control experiment. The impacts of chicken grazing on the productivity of the grassland was also identified. The result showed that farming of chickens on the grassland could save about 26% of the total feedstuff, which meant, to produce 1kg meat the free-range chicken could save 1.48kg feedstuff comparing with cage-raising chicken. Chicken grazing on the grassland had a little effect on the productivity of grassland which is much lower than the impacts of cattle and goat grazing. Chicken farming on the grassland is not only good for restoration of the degenerating grassland vegetation, but it could improve the income of local herdsman. The data demonstrated that the profit per hectare with this mode was about 1500 Yuan RMB higher than that with traditional grazing mode. Meanwhile, the outputs of this mode, including organic chickens and eggs, could meet the increasing need for healthy food.
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Received: 01 August 2011
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2011, Vol. 29 
