Analysis of Rangeland and Livestock Production Systems in Alpine Pastoral Area of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

We used household survey to investigate and analyze the rangeland and livestock composition, the carrying capacity of rangeland and related factors for rangeland-livestock production of three model villages in Tianzhu County, Gansu Province, which in the eastern of Tibetan Plateau typical pastoral, with the purpose of providing the production and business model for herdsmen. The results showed that the mainly rangeland in Jijitan (JJT) is Achnatherum splendens and Stipa capillata communities; those in Daiqian (DQ) and Weijitan (WJT) are alpine meadows and alpine shrub. The rank of rangeland productivity was DQ WJT JJT. The area of artificial grassland was universally small;in general, a large amount of livestock belong to herdsmen who had large scale of cultivation and the rangeland capacity was high; the rangeland of JJT was all public; the 13% herdsmen of WJT and 25% herdsmen of DQ still was joint ranching pattern. There's overgrazing in WJT and JJT which resulted in the decreasing of good forage and edible forage and the vegetation became sparse and grew much more poisonous weeds, while protection in DQ was better. To relieve the pressure on pasture and adopt fence, reseeding improvement, pest control, creating artificial grassland as well as other comprehensive measures can be used to enhance the productive efficiency of the rangeland and livestock systems in this region.