Ecological implications of traditional livestock husbandry and associated land use practices: A case study from the trans-Himalaya, India

The importance of indigenous knowledge is being increasingly realized for identifying sustainable interventions enabling environmental conservation coupled with socio-economic development of local communities. This study aimed to evaluate livestock diet composition, diet overlap, forage selection and livestock husbandry and associated land use practices in a typical traditional village landscape in the cold and region of the trans-Himalaya, India. The village territory (4300-4600 m amsl.) was differentiated into (i) irrigated cropping on terraced slopes, (ii) meadows valued for hay and mulch material and (iii) meadows grazed by cows, non-lactating dzomos (female offspring of cow-yak cross), goats, donkeys and sheep. The traditional livestock husbandry and grazing management practices included: (i) dependence of livestock almost exclusively on grazing during summer (May-September) and on stall feeding during winter (November March), (ii) regulation of utilization of hay and mulch material by the village council, (iii) divison of grazing area into blocks, each grazed for 5-7 days followed by an equally long rest phase and (iv) regulation of animal movements by herders such that donkeys did not mix with other animals and all animals spent almost equal foraging time in moist depressions dominated by graminoids and dry slopes by legumes and forbs. The livestock types did not differ significantly in respect of foraging period and bite rate. Bite size and daily forage intake of goats and sheep were markedly lower but search cost higher as compared to those of dzomos, donkeys and cows. Sheep and goats foraged on all plant species, while Astragalus zanskarensis was excluded by cows, Caragana versicolor by cows and dzomos and Thermopsis inflata and Potentilla fruticosa by cows, dzomos and donkeys. Goats showed the highest degree of selection for T inflata and all other livestock types for Carex infuscata. The highest level of similarity in diet composition during grazing was observed between sheep and goats followed by that between donkeys and cows. Goats and dzomos showed the highest diet breadth value (0.73) followed by sheep (0.53) and cows or donkeys (0.44). The bulk of stall-feed comprised the species that were not preferred during grazing. Local people consider Cousinia thomsonii and Cicer microphyllum to be the best quality winter feed for all livestock. Thermopsis inflata was considered harmful to dzomos, cows and donkeys and Seseli trilobum to dzomos and cows. People do not harvest C Versicolor, a poor forage but an excellent fuelwood species, from village lands as they consider it as a 'keystone' species facilitating regeneration and growth of high-quality forage species. The traditional land use and animal husbandry systems need to be improved with appropriate scientific and institutional inputs to meet the challenges arising from market forces on one hand and environmental conservation on the other. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.