1. Plant biodiversity of Rosa damascena fields from Bulgaria’s Rose ValleyNikolay I. Velev, Iva Apostolova, Magdalena Valcheva, 2025, not set Abstract: The growing human population’s demand for food and organic materials has a severe impact on the environment as conventional agriculture expands, destroying habitats and wildlife. This highlights the need to balance provision security with biodiversity conservation through new agricultural practices. This study investigates how different agricultural practices affect the plant diversity found in rose fields located in Kazanlak region, Bulgaria. We compared conventional and organic farming methods, while also looking at how the management of spaces between the rose rows by mowing or ploughing affects their plant diversity. Our results show that mowing management, as opposed to ploughing, leads to greater plant diversity and a higher vegetation total cover. Additionally, organic farming practices combined with mowing management were found to support plant communities with higher diversity, compared to conventional farming under mowing. We conclude that organic farming combined with mowing management is the most beneficial practice for promoting plant diversity in Bulgarian rose fields.
Keywords: agriculture, conventional farming, mowing, organic farming, plant diversity, ploughing, rose fields
Published in DiRROS: 23.01.2026; Views: 331; Downloads: 207
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2. Estimating the microarthropod diversity in cropping systems by comparing ecological indices across EuropeIrena Bertoncelj, Gaia Bigiotti, Francesco Vitali, Stefano Mocali, Giovanni L'Abate, Eligio Malusà, Dawid Kozacki, Irena Bertoncelj, Morgane Ourry, Massimo Pugliese, Heinrich Maisel, Expedito Olimi, Maria Grazia Tommasini, Carlo Jacomini, Lorenzo D'Avino, 2025, original scientific article Keywords: Invertebrate diversity, Organic farming, Soil biodiversity, Apple orchards, Agroecosystems Horticulture, Cropping systems
Published in DiRROS: 24.11.2025; Views: 412; Downloads: 161
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3. Agro-morphological characteristics of selected sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) varieties from organic farming and their genetic backgroundNataša Kunstelj, Lovro Sinkovič, Barbara Pipan, Mohamed Neji, Vladimir Meglič, 2025, original scientific article Keywords: allele polymorphisms, genetic diversity, organic farming, plant descriptor, SSR marker
Published in DiRROS: 18.10.2025; Views: 541; Downloads: 400
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4. Soil mesofauna diversity in agricultural systems of Slovenia using the QBS index and its modificationsVid Naglič, Nataša Šibanc, Tine Grebenc, Irena Bertoncelj, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Soil mesofauna plays a key role in maintaining soil health by supporting the decomposition of organic matter, nutrient cycling and the maintenance of soil structure. In this study of Slovenian agricultural ecosystems, we used four modifications of the QBS index, a soil biological quality index based on soil mesofauna. We compared diversity in arable fields under different tillage intensities, a strawberry field and an orchard, managed with either organic or integrated pest management methods (IPM). The results show significant differences in the mesofaunal communities in the soil. Minimum tillage promoted higher biodiversity, especially of Collembola, compared to conventional tillage. In fruit production systems, the ratio of Collembola to Acarina differed from that of arable fields, skewing in favour of Collembola, possibly related to the use of copper-containing pesticides in organic orchards and systemic herbicides in IPM systems. The QBS index values for soil health varied considerably between systems. Only QBS modifications considering the abundances of organisms (QBS-ab and QBS-a) were able to distinguish between different system-management groups. This study provides insights into the limitations of the originally proposed QBS-ar index to discern the effects of farming intensity on the soil mesofaunal community. Results suggest that minimum tillage and organic management practices can promote healthier soil ecosystems, emphasizing the importance of sustainable soil management for the promotion of soil biodiversity. Future research should aim to incorporate a broader range of agricultural practices and assign fauna to a higher taxonomic rank to further explain the effects on soil mesofauna diversity.
Keywords: soil health, soil microarthropods, biodiversity, agroecosystems, tillage intensity, organic farming
Published in DiRROS: 03.12.2024; Views: 1082; Downloads: 572
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