New Paradigms in Sustainable Forage-Livestock Production Systems
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Grassland and Pasture Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2021) | Viewed by 40335
Special Issue Editors
Interests: foraging behavior; diet selection; range ruminant nutrition and management; plant herbivore interactions
Interests: forage production; irrigated pasture management; forage physiology; forage management; ruminant production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
A growing number of consumers expect transparency from retailers on the origin, nutritive value, environmental impact, and social implications of their food purchases. The production of red meat in particular has been associated with methane emissions, inefficient conversion of cereal grains to gain, negative impacts on air and water, and concerns about antibiotic and hormone use. This Special Issue of Agronomy is focused on establishing new paradigms of resilient forage–livestock systems that increase the storage of atmospheric carbon in the soil while optimizing the quality and quantity of red meat production without reliance on grain, hormones or antibiotics. Sustainable grazing systems employ legumes to supply nitrogen through biological fixation and to enhance forage nutritive value and comprise mixtures of shallow- and deep-rooted species to capture water and recycle nutrients. Holistic, perennial, regenerative, biologically diverse grazing systems include beneficial plant secondary metabolites that slow the mineralization of organic matter and nitrate leaching into groundwater and increase the storage of soil carbon that offsets enteric methane emissions. The forage plant species most appropriate for ruminant production systems will vary from region to region and will support ruminant production on agricultural land damaged by or unsuitable for annual cropping.
We welcome the submission of reviews or original research on resilient or regenerative place-specific forage–livestock systems that demonstrate efficient, profitable meat or milk production as part of a holistic system, or on elements or products of these systems, including forage plant or ruminant physiology, meat or milk quality, soil carbon sequestration, soil structure and water- and nutrient-holding capacity, microbial activity or nitrogen cycling, effects of plant secondary metabolites, beneficial plant, insect or microbial diversity, rotational stocking, and the sequestration and benefits of soil organic matter.
Prof. Dr. Juan J. Villalba
Prof. Dr. Jennifer MacAdam
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Regenerative grazing
- Sustainable agriculture
- Sustainable beef production systems
- Perennial legumes
- Resilient ecosystems
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