Diversity studies on insect communities in organic, conservation and conventional farming systems under rain-fed conditions
B Thirupam Reddy and RS Giraddi
The study was conducted in conventional, conservation farming (six year old block) and organic (10 year block) farming crop systems at UAS, Dharwad for assessing the impact of agricultural practices on insect diversity. The results indicated greater insect diversity in organic and conservation crop blocks as compared to conventional system. Simpson's diversity index ranged from 0.335 (conventional farming) to 0.444 (organic farming) while Shannon-Wiener index varied from 0.422 (organic farming) to 0.627 (conventional farming). Organic farming practices registered significantly higher Simpson’s and Shannon indices (0.376 and 0.445, respectively) for beneficial arthropods compared to conventional farming (0.263 and 0.339 respectively).
B Thirupam Reddy, RS Giraddi. Diversity studies on insect communities in organic, conservation and conventional farming systems under rain-fed conditions. J Entomol Zool Stud 2019;7(3):883-886.