Economic benefits of chicken farming, traditional sheep grazing and non-grazing per hectare of grassland.
Data for chicken farming were up-scaled to one hectare based on the data collected from our experimental 100 m2 plots; data for traditional sheep grazing were collected in 5000 m2 experimental plots. The input refers to the costs for purchasing corn, immunization for chickens and the cost of UV-lights, excluding environmental costs and labor. The outputs include the sales of hay produced from the grasses and of the animals/chicken.
Notes:The income for all products was calculated based on the local market price in 2010. The price of chicken was 5.92 US$ per kg (1.0US$ = 6.76 Chinese Yuan); the lambs were 11.83 US$ per kg; the price of hay was 0.073 US$ per kg; the price of corn was 0.15 US$ per kg. The life span of UV-light lamps was assumed to be five years and the average input was 23.6 US$ for each year. Means followed by different letters were statistically different among treatments at the p<0.05 level.
