Ecologically Based Pasture Management Systems for East Central Texas.

Ecologically based farming systems are those in which biological processes are purportedly managed on various scales to enhance efficiency, maintain productivity, and promote sustainability of farming systems.  In 2003, the research project was initiated with a focus on the dynamics of plant species in pastures that have been overgrazed in an attempt to demonstrate and develop research methods for pasture renovation and restoration on the Texas Gulf Coast Prairie.  Three (3) 1-acre pastures were fenced and an adjacent three (3) 1-acre pastures were unfenced, marked with corner posts, to serve as the control area. The objectives were:

1) to conduct an assessment of the condition of the research plots after 3 years of lying fallow with no experimental treatments;

2) to conduct a plant identification survey to determine the type of plants and the percentage of cover present at 10 randomly selected areas in each of the 6 pastures; and

3) to conduct an assessment of pastures for plant dominance, succession, and percentage of cover

In the summer of 2011, a plant identification survey was conducted to determine the type of plants species and the percentage of cover present. Overall, a total of 20 plant species were identified in the pastures. About 10 of these species were observed in most pastures and generally 3 were the dominant types. Data was statistically analyzed and results confirmed the dominance of Bahiagrass followed by Rubus for the unfenced pastures for fertilized, limed (F+L), and unfertilized and no lime (Control).  At the 95% confidence level, both Bahiagrass and Rubus in the unfenced pastures were statistically significant. On the other hand, in the fenced pastures, with or without fertilizer, Bermudagrass and Rubus were dominant. Rubus was the dominant and statistically significant plant species in the control fenced pasture.