“Small vs. Large Area” Principle: Protecting and restoring a large area of natural grassland by establishing a small area of cultivated pasture

A large area of natural grasslands has been deteriorated in China primarily because of over-grazing and climate changes. Establishing a small area of cultivated pasture with high quality and productivity of forage grass is a key to protect and restore the degraded natural grasslands. The cultivated pasture can also supply high quality of forage grass for the sustainable development of grass-based animal husbandry. We refer to this as “Small vs. Large Area” Principle of the grassland protection and utilization, and test it using data of pratacultural experiments. We also make some recommendations on scientific and technological issues of China’s pratacultural development.