The effects of different mowing system on plant community characteristics and biomass in fenced Leymus chinensis grassland

The influence of different mowing system (continuous mowing and biennial mowing) on fenced Leymus chinensis grassland in Hulunbeier were studied. The results showed that community coverage and aboveground biomass significantly decreased under mowing treatment. The biennial mowing was better than continuous mowing in quantitative characteristics of community and biomass. The community average height, coverage and the aboveground biomass of community decreased with the increase of mowing frequency whereas the plant community α-diversity index increased with the increase of mowing frequency which was the lowest in fenced grassland without mowing. The composition of plant community and the important value of each species in the community changed a lot under different mowing system. The important value of L. chinensis under continuous mowing was lower than that under biennial mowing, however, the important value of Carex duriuscula was the highest under continuous mowing. The important value of other associated species decreased with mowing frequency.