An Introduction to the Pasture-straw Animal Husbandry of Agro-pastoral Ecotone in Northeast China

The pasture-straw animal husbandry is an economic industry depended on forage and straw resources.Excellent straw and forage resources lay the unique foundation for the development of pasture-straw animal husbandry in protecting grass resource and adaptating livestock production in agro-pastoral ecotone of northeast China.Data showed that the nutritional quality of corn and rice straw is similar to L.chinensis hay.Grassland plants at early flowering are quality grazing resources,while the nutritional quality of L.chinensis hay harvested at maximum biomass declines.The appropriate option for livestock to graze the grassland is from June to September annually,and to use straw as forage in other months,which could bring significant economic and ecological benefits.The core of grassland livestock production is livestock growth,which is a function of forage quantity and quality,and the quantity and quality of forage is a function of time.The pasture-straw animal husbandry could be summarized into four kinds of utilization approaches based on available forage and feeding program,the optimization design of the growth rate and feeding time for production process of each approach is the challenge facing grassland animal husbandry.