Monitoring and evaluation of productivity of mountain meadow in northern Xinjiang

Based on the field survey, the variation of coverage, average height and fresh grass yield of mountain meadow in northern Xinjiang were analyzed. The result showed that the variation changed periodically and showed the single peak pattern which was strongly associated with the temperature and precipitation. The coverage, average height and fresh grass yield reached the highest in mid June (96%, 36.4 cm and 8 422 hg/hm2 respectively) and the lowest in mid May (80%, 14.8 cm and 1 086 hg/hm2) within one year. The variation among years depended on the precipitation and temperature, in which, the response of fresh grass yield was the most sensitive. The amplitude of variation of coverage, average height and fresh grass yield from 2004 to 2006 was 2.94%, 3.36% and 42.59% respectively.