Abstract

The study focused on investigating the effects of different grazing ratios and stocking rate of cattle and goats under mixed species grazing on different species of plant. The experimental site was Matopos Research Station farm in Zimbabwe. This study was confined to the commonest grass species and forbs at the experimental site. Treatments spanned a period of eight years; from 1999 to 2007. Generally, heavy goats stocking rate resulted in low productivity of browse biomass while heavy cattle stocking rate resulted in low herbaceous biomass productivity. The present results do not support existence of a linear relationship between herbaceous biomass productivity and annual rainfall. Rather, a quadratic relationship existed, suggesting that there might be other factors in addition to rainfall that accounted for biomass productivity. Grazing ratios and stocking rate of cattle and goats, year and their interactions affected the productivity of plant species in the rangeland. Finally, farmers are encouraged to practice mixed-species grazing at an optimal grazing ratio of 4 cattle and 36 goats per 20 ha of rangeland.

Key words: Mixed-species grazing, stocking rate, grazing ratio, cattle, goats, biomass.