Abstract: The growth response of simple and artifical communities of Astragalus adsurgens and Medicago sativa to cutting treatments based on a biological replacement method was investigated. A relative study of interspecific relationships and compensative effects of both leguminous forages was done at three sowing densities for monoculture and mixtures and compared with cutting grass. The possible mechanisms for communities maintaining stable and successive status is discussed. Compared with the control, the cutting treatment led to a competitively spatial increase of about 20 cm in soil water utilization by A. adsurgens and M. sativa. This inducible effect increased soil moisture absorption by about 15%. In particular, the cutting treatment significantly enhanced water use of mixtures by 15.6% in low density sowings and by 33% for monocultures of M. sativa in high density sowings. In addition, cutting treatment induced an aerial biomass increase of 29% in A. adsurgens monoculture in the middle and high density sowings. However, plant height, branch numbers per plant, and aboveground biomass declined under the cutting treatment compared with the control. A. adsurgens and M. sativa showed weak resources-sharing with a decline of nearly 21% if artificially regulated by cutting and the relative competition of M. sativa to A. adsurgens was increased by 17%. Whether in monoculture or in a mixture, cutting would increase the compensatory effect of both forages. It was also found that cutting caused drastic density-limiting effects. The low productivity from additional cutting resulted from the synergistic effect of pressures such as arid circumstances, interspecific competition and allelopathic potential, which can be alleviated by coexistence and compensation. In the present study, the growth response and interspecific relationship resulting from cutting can indicate some potent mechanisms for maintaining the biodiversity of communities and the sustainable development of the forage industry.