Impacts of Organic Farming on Insects Abundance and Diversity

Abstract

Organic farming encourages maximum utilization of the natural biological processes to manage the farm in terms of soil fertilization and pest control, which implies using none or less synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and plant and animal growth-promoting substances. All these practices increase arthropod diversity, particularly soil-dwelling insects. Intercropping, cover crops, and hedges, which are common practices in organic fields, provide alternative habitats for arthropod communities. The refugia also provide a good source of food for pollinators in terms of pollen grains and nectar. The interactions among the different plant and animal taxa (weeds, birds, mammals) that are found in the organic farming ecosystem have a great impact on insects’ abundance and diversity. This chapter summarizes the impacts of the organic farming system on the abundance and diversity of insects. The role of organic farming in mitigating the impact of agriculture intensification, urbanization, deforestation, and climate change on global insects’ decline and diversity loss is discussed.

Effect of adding chemical and organic fertilizers and spraying seaweed extracts on NPKS concentrations and cauliflower yield

“…This may be due to the availability of phosphorous and Nitrogen element, which stimulates and encourage the plant and regulates several vital activities the plant needs 25 . These results are in agreement with (5,26,27). Spraying of seaweed extracts resulted in no significant differences in the concentration of phosphorous in the leaves between the experimental treatments.…”

“…The results of Table (5) showed that the addition of organic fertilizer led to a significant increase in the sulfur concentration in the fruits, which amounted to 1.96 and 2.00 mg sulfur kg -1 for the two treatments M2 and M3 (10 and 5% of the terracing volume) compared to the unfertilized treatment M0, which amounted to 1.611 mg sulfur kg -1 for the two treatments consecutively, with an increase of (25.49%).…”

“…Organic farming also encourages maximum use of the natural biological processes of farm management in terms of soil fertilization and pest control, which means no or less use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or plant and animal growth enhancers. All of these practices increase the diversity of bacteria and insects that live in the soil and provide a good food source for pollinators in terms of pollen and nectar 5 . Many comparisons between organic and conventional agriculture indicate that organic agriculture enhances the quality of food crops and soil quality.…”