Abstract: Research on spatial linkage of regions and its radiation range in the central area of industrial agglomeration has important practical significance to advance the spatial linkage between regions and promote the level of regional agglomeration. This paper analyzed the spatial linkage of 14 producing areas of animal husbandry in Gansu Province, China based on gravity model, identified the agglomeration centres according to the number of the largest attraction linkages and total gravity quantity of the region and calculated the radiation range of the central city by the breaking point formula. The results showed that:the imbalance of animal husbandry industrial development in different areas in Gansu Province was being enlarged in genera. The space pattern in animal husbandry industrial development presented a gradient characteristic with high levels in western Gansu and low levels in eastern Gansu. Of the 14 areas in Gansu Province, the comprehensive qualities of three areas namely Wuwei, Gannan and Zhangye were higher than the others, which made them the first tier. Jiuquan and Baiyin were in the secondary tier with the comprehensive qualities between 300 and 400. Longnan, Qingyang and Dingxi were in the third tier, Linxia, Pingliang, Lanzhou and Tianshui were in the fourth tier, and the comprehensive qualities of two industrial cities Jinchang and Jiayuguan were low, which made them the fifth tier. In general the utilization ratio of animal husbandry resources was low and had great regional difference. The fourth tier owned the highest utilization ratio, followed by the third tier, and the second tier had the lowest utilization ratio. The characteristics of animal husbandry industrial geographical agglomeration were remarkable. The study found that there was not any first-class agglomeration center in Gansu yet. Baiyin city and Gannan Prefecture were the second-class agglomeration centres. Lanzhou, Dingxi, Wuwei and Linxia were the third-class agglomeration centres. With Baiyin city and Gannan Prefecture as the core centers, a "two-nucleuse" space pattern was formed, and the level of animal husbandry industrial agglomeration was gradually reduced from the centers to the surrounding areas. Among the 14 cities(Prefectures), relying on the fourth tier's comprehensive qualities (372.359) and the first tier's strong total gravitation quantity(30.594), Baiyin city became the most important agglomeration area of animal husbandry industry in Gansu Province and drove the surrounding areas including Lanzhou and Dingxi which gradually formed the industrial agglomeration area of animal husbandry industry. In Hexi Corridor, as the 3rd-class agglomeration centre, Wuwei radiated and drove the surrounding areas including Zhangye and Jiuquan cities. Meanwhile, another important animal husbandry agglomeration area was formed in southern Gansu, radiated and drove the surrounding areas including Linxia Prefecture and Longnan city and Tianshui city, with the second-grade agglomeration centre Gannan as the nucleus. In the future, Qingyang city and Pingliang city would be expected to be hot spot of industrial agglomeration in the eastern Gansu Province. Based on this study, the recommendation is to carry out the regional specific development strategy based on regional resource environment and animal husbandry industrial development and to accelerate crop straw feed utilization to promote the development of herbivorous livestock breeding.

Key words: animal husbandry, geographical agglomeration, gravity model, spatial pattern, Gansu Province