Journal of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences (JEAS). Sajjad et al., 2016. Volume 7: 48-54
Open Access – Research Article
Impact of Better Management Practices on Farmland Biodiversity Associated with Sugarcane Crop
 Asif Sajjad 1,*, Abdul Rasheed Bhutto 1, Asad Imran 1, Arif Hamid Makhdum 1
¹ Sustainable Agriculture Programme, World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature, Pakistan
Abstract: Over the course of time, intensification in agriculture and degradation of natural habitats have posed a serious concern for biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and food security across the globe. Sugarcane is one of the notorious crops in this regard. Keeping in view these sustainability challenges in sugar sector, certain multi stakeholder worldwide initiatives have been set up. These initiatives promote sustainable sugarcane production by promoting environmental friendly Better Management Practices (BMPs); leading to socio-economic prosperity. However, the empirical evidences of impact of BMPs on farmland biodiversity and ecosystem functions are rare. Current study aimed to evaluate the impact of four major BMPs related to fertilizers (i.e. use of farm yard manure and avoiding synthetic fertilizers), insecticides ( i.e. need based application of botanical insecticides and avoiding synthetic insecticides), irrigation (i.e. need base application of irrigation after careful crop ecosystem analysis) and trash management ( i.e. trash mulching after each harvest and avoiding trash burning) on biodiversity of soil macro-invertebrates, mammals and birds. After three consecutive years of BMPs application, BMP plots were more taxa rich (38) than that of non-BMP plots (33). The abundance was also higher in BMP plots (4107 individuals) than that of non-BMP plots (2718). The comparison of Shannon-Wiener and Simpson diversity indices by using bootstrapping and permutation methods revealed BMP plots as species more diverse than that of non-BMP plots. Comparison of diversity profiles by using exponential of the Ryeni index further confirmed this finding. It was concluded that continuous adoption of environmental friendly BMPs can significantly improve farmland biodiversity and ecosystem functions in sugarcane crop.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Ecosystem, Better management practices, Ecosystem functions,
*Corresponding author: Asif Sajjad: asifbinsajjad@gmail.com
Cite this article as Sajjad, A., A.R. Bhutto, A. Imran and A.H. Makhdum. 2016. Impact of better management practices on farmland biodiversity associated with sugarcane crop. Journal of Environmental & Agricultural Sciences. 7: 48-54.7. [Abstract]Â [View Full–Text]Â [Citations]. Title: Impact of Better Management Practices on Farmland Biodiversity Associated with Sugarcane Crop Authors: Asif Sajjad, Abdul Rasheed Bhutto, Asad Imran and Arif Hamid Makhdum Pages: 48-54
Copyright © Sajjad et al., 2016. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original author and source are appropriately cited and credited.
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