In order to study the nitrogen and phosphorus homoeostasis of plant community of desert steppe under different stocking rates， the Stipa breviflora desert steppe in Inner Mongolia was used as the research object. The grazing experiment adopted a completely randomized block design， with a total of 4 levels of stocking rate and 3 repetitions， namely control （CK）， light grazing （LG）， moderate grazing （MG） and heavy grazing （HG） [sheep units·hm^-2·0.5a^-1]. The total nitrogen （TN） and the total phosphorus （TP） in plant community and soil were measured， and than calculated the homeostasis index （H）， the results showed that the interaction between grazing and soil layer had no significant effect on the soil. Grazing attenuated TN and TP homeostatic regulation of the plant community. When the stocking rate was <1.1 or> 3.65， TN homeostasis was weakly homeostatic. The TP homeostasis was enhanced in HG. When the stocking rate was <1.09 or> 2.78， TP homeostasis was weakly homeostatic. The N∶P homeostasis was the strongest in MG， and when the stocking rate ranged from 0.17 to 1.9， the N∶P homeostasis was weakly homeostatic. Overall， when the stocking rate ranged from 0.17 to 1.09， which is a light to moderate grazing level， the grassland ecosystem had homeostatic regulation. The stocking rate has a minimum threshold of 2.37 for H_TN and 1.94 for H_TP， while a maximum threshold of 1.03 exists for H_N∶P.

Desert steppe  /  Plant community  /  Stocking rate  /  Ecological stoichiometry  /  Homoeostasis