It has been debated how different farming systems influence the composition of soil bacterial communities, which are crucial for maintaining soil health. In this research, we applied high-throughput pyrosequencing of V1 to V3 regions of bacterial 16S rRNA genes to gain further insight into how organic and conventional farming systems and crop rotation influence bulk soil bacterial communities. ...

Weeds are a major obstacle to successful crop production in organic farming. Producers may be able to reduce inputs for weed management by designing rotations to disrupt population dynamics of weeds. Population-based management in conventional farming has reduced herbicide use by 50% because weed density declines in cropland across time. In this paper, we suggest a 9-year rotation comprised of ...

Population growth and climate change challenge our food and farming systems and provide arguments for an increased intensification of agriculture. A promising option is eco-functional intensification through organic farming, an approach based on using and enhancing internal natural resources and processes to secure and improve agricultural productivity, while minimizing negative environmental i...

Many sustainable agronomical practices can be adopted to contain environmental risks of crop production and, at the same time, sustain yield and quality. In this framework, the aim of this research was to study the effects of continuous cropping (CC) and crop rotation, tillage and fertilization strategies on durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) production. The responses of soil properties we...

The aim of this paper was to present results from two long term field experiments comparing potato samples from conventional farming systems with samples from biodynamic farming systems. The principal component analyses (PCA), consistently exhibited differences between potato samples from the two farming systems. According to the PCA, potato samples treated with inorganic fertilizers exhibited ...

We hypothesize that biological diversification across ecological, spatial, and temporal scales maintains and regenerates the ecosystem services that provide critical inputs—such as maintenance of soil quality, nitrogen fixation, pollination, and pest control—to agriculture. Agrobiodiversity is sustained by diversified farming practices and it also supplies multiple ecosystem services to agricul...