The relative efficiency of three methods of estimating herbage mass in veld.

Abstract

Reports the results of an investigation conducted to compare three methods of estimating herbage mass in terms of their relative efficiencies when precision obtained per unit effort is required;Three methods of estimating herbage mass were compared in terms of their relative efficiencies when precision obtained per unit effort was taken as criterion. The methods involved were randomly placed circular quadrats; randomly placed narrow strips; and disc meter sampling. Disc meter and quadrat sampling appear to be more efficient than strip sampling. In a subsequent small plot grazing trial the estimates of herbage mass, using the disc meter, had a consistent precision with 95% confidence limits being approximately 10,5% of the mean estimate.

Keywords: disc meter; Disc meter sampling; efficiency; grazing; herbage mass; Herbage mass estimation; method; precision; quadrat; Quadrat sampling; sampling; Strip sampling; Veld

Journal of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa.