Data from: Carbon sequestration and soil restoration potential of grazing lands under exclosure management in a semi-arid environment of northern Ethiopia

Exclosures are used to regenerate native vegetation as a way to reduce
soil erosion, increase rain water infiltration and provide fodder and woody
biomass in degraded grazing lands. Therefore, this study assessed the
impact of grazing exclosure on vegetation biomass, carbon sequestration
and soil nutrients under five and ten years of grazing exclosures and
freely grazed areas in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Vegetation biomass,
carbon stocks and soil nutrients increased with increasing grazing
exclusion. However, open grazing lands and five years of grazing exclosure
did not differ in aboveground biomass, above-and-belowground carbon
stocks. Moreover, ten years of grazing exclosure had a higher
(P<0.01) grass, herb and litter carbon stocks compared to five
years exclosure and open grazing lands. The total carbon stock was higher
for ten years exclosure (75.65 t C ha-1) than the five years exclosure
(55.06 t C ha-1) and in open grazing areas (51.98 t C ha-1). Grazing lands
closed for ten years had a higher SOC, organic matter, total N, available
P, and exchangeable K+ and Na+ compared to five year’s exclosure and open
grazing lands. Therefore, establishment of grazing exclosures had a
positive effect in restoring degraded grazing lands, thus improving
vegetation biomass, carbon sequestration potentials and soil nutrients.