Characteristics of spring and autunm pasture plant community under different utilization modes in Xinjiang

The plant community composition and quantity characteristics of spring and autumn pasture communities was surveyed during April, June and August under the mowing (M), freegrazing (FG), subsectiongrazing (SG) and rotationalgrazing (RG) modes. This study showed that the number of plant species decreased gradually from spring to autumn, and was biggest under the RG modes. Quantity characteristics of grassland community showed a similar trend, indicating that the height, coverage, density and aboveground biomass were the highest in April under the M modes, and were the highest in June and August under the RG modes. The total aboveground biomass was RG＞M＞FG＞SG in all warm season. The RG modes performed a merit in maintaining the grassland stability of community structure and improving community quantity characteristics and productivity, and the SG showed a potential advantage. The M modes did not benefit the renewal and reproduction of spring and autumn pasture plant community and the FG modes did not benefit sustainable development of spring and autumn pasture.