Accordance of indigenous agriculture with plant diversity in agroecosystems

Abstract

Agriculture is the greatest gainer of biodiversity. The effects of indigenous and modern agriculture on plant diversity were evaluated with survey of wheat fields in North Khorasan in 2009. The results showed that indigenous agriculture led to increase of species richness and Shannon’s index. Redundancy analysis (RDA) applied revealed that species composition between two managements was different. Plant species that support higher tropic levels such as invertebrates and birds were higher in indigenous agriculture. In general, study results showed that indigenous agriculture by increasing plant diversity and total biodiversity will lead to production and environment stability.