{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,25]],"date-time":"2026-04-25T14:34:19Z","timestamp":1777127659971,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,20]],"date-time":"2023-04-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1681948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology)","award":["UIDB\/05183\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/05183\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["AgriEngineering"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Deferred grazing (DG) consists in adapting the number of animals and the number of days grazed to the availability of pasture. Compared to continuous grazing (CG), which is based on a permanent and low stocking rate, DG is a management strategy that aims at optimizing the use of the resources available in the Mediterranean Montado ecosystem. This study with sheep grazing, carried out between 2019 and 2021 on a 4 ha pasture in Alentejo region of the Southern of Portugal, assesses the impact of these two grazing management systems on soil compaction as a result of animal trampling. This area of native natural grassland (a dryland pasture, mixture of grasses, legumes, and composite species) was divided into four grazing parks of 1 ha each, two under DG management and two under CG management. At the end of the study, the cone index (CI, in kPa) was measured in the topsoil layer (0\u201330 cm) with an electronic cone penetrometer at 48 georeferenced areas (12 in each park). The results of CI measurement showed no significant differences between treatments in all depths measured (0\u201310, 10\u201320, and 20\u201330 cm). These findings are encouraging from the point of view of soil conservation and sustainability, revealing good prospects for the intensification of extensive livestock production. Future work should evaluate the long-term impact and consider, at the same time, other ecosystem services and system productivity indicators.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/agriengineering5020047","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,21]],"date-time":"2023-04-21T04:48:11Z","timestamp":1682052491000},"page":"761-776","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Impact of Deferred Versus Continuous Sheep Grazing on Soil Compaction in the Mediterranean Montado Ecosystem"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5178-8158","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Serrano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"MED\u2014Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE\u2014Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de \u00c9vora, P\u00f3lo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Emanuel","family":"Carreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MED\u2014Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE\u2014Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de \u00c9vora, P\u00f3lo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Shakib","family":"Shahidian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MED\u2014Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE\u2014Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de \u00c9vora, P\u00f3lo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"given":"M\u00e1rio","family":"de Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MED\u2014Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE\u2014Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de \u00c9vora, P\u00f3lo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0305-8147","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9","family":"Marques da Silva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MED\u2014Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE\u2014Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de \u00c9vora, P\u00f3lo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 \u00c9vora, Portugal"},{"name":"AgroInsider Lda., 7005-841 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6975-0350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lu\u00eds Lorenzo","family":"Paniagua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela de Ingenier\u00edas Agrarias, Universidad de Extremadura, Avenida Adolfo Su\u00e1rez, S\/N, 06007 Badajoz, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8465-1318","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francisco","family":"Moral","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Expresi\u00f3n Gr\u00e1fica, Escuela de Ingenier\u00edas Industriales, Universidad de Extremadura, Avenida de Elvas, S\/N, 06006 Badajoz, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9430-9399","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alfredo","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MED\u2014Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE\u2014Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de \u00c9vora, P\u00f3lo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Psyllos, G., Hadjigeorgiou, I., Dimitrakopoulos, P.G., and Kizos, T. 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