scholarly journals Food plant diversity, distribution, and nutritional aspects of the endemic golden silk producing silkworm, Antheraea assamensis – a review

2021 ◽  
Vol 169 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-248
Author(s):  
Barsha Devi ◽  
Mahananda Chutia ◽  
Nabanita Bhattacharyya
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Food Plant ◽  
Antheraea Assamensis

scholarly journals Local Markets: Agrobiodiversity Reservoirs and Access Points for Farmers' Plant Propagation Materials

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Heindorf ◽  
Juan Antonio Reyes-Agüero ◽  
Anuschka van't Hooft
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Food Plant ◽  
Food Plants ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Plant Propagation ◽  
Local Markets ◽  
Access Points

Local markets are access points to local agrobiodiversity and to part of the informal seed systems on which most small-scale farmers worldwide depend. With the urgent need for more sustainable food systems, detailed studies of the food plant diversity in local markets contribute to a better understanding of the role of local markets in a functioning rural food system. In particular, the products that farmers trade and also use for plant propagation are of interest, i.e., seeds and other propagules such as cuttings, pseudostems, rhizomes, or tubers purposes, since they represent our genetic capital for food production. This study aims to show the role of local markets as access points for plant propagation materials and their contribution to regional in situ conservation of local food plant resources. We analyzed the inter- and intra-specific food plant diversity of the products from local merchants in 10 markets in the agrobiodiversity rich region of the Huasteca Potosina, Mexico. We recorded 275 different food plants consisting of 99 plant species, which have a high intraspecific richness of 210 variants. The list includes 58 species that are useful for propagation. The average number of variants suitable for propagation at each market is 58.4. The results show that the different richness parameters vary within and between the inventoried markets. They correlate partially to different factors like market size and origin. We conclude that local markets in the Huasteca Potosina are important components of the rural food system by providing access to a great variety of local food plants, as well as to seeds and other propagation materials for farming. However, diversity may be threatened, because of the high average proportion of unique and rare food plants (63.5%) in the markets. Also, almost half (45.1%) of the total richness is present in <1% of the inventoried stands. Political actions are needed to maintain and promote the use and conservation of this diversity in the future.

Plant diversity and species richness of Ljubljana marsh grasslands under the influence of different cutting and fertilizing regimes

2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sinkovč
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Grassland Management ◽  
Botanical Composition ◽  
Significant Negative Effect ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Cutting Regimes ◽  
N Rates ◽  
Exploitation Intensity ◽  
Plot Design

The botanical composition of grasslands determines the agronomic and natural values of swards. Good grassland management usually improves herbage value, but on the other hand it frequently decreases the plant diversity and species richness in the swards. In 1999 a field trial in a split-plot design with four replicates was therefore established on the Arrhenatherion type of vegetation in Ljubljana marsh meadows in order to investigate this relationship. Cutting regimes (2 cuts — with normal and delayed first cut, 3 cuts and 4 cuts per year) were allocated to the main plots and fertiliser treatments (zero fertiliser — control, PK and NPK with 2 or 3 N rates) were allocated to the sub-plots. The results at the 1 st cutting in the 5 th trial year were as follows: Fertilising either with PK or NPK had no significant negative effect on plant diversity in any of the cutting regimes. In most treatments the plant number even increased slightly compared to the control. On average, 20 species were listed on both unfertilised and fertilised swards. At this low to moderate level of exploitation intensity, the increased number of cuts had no significant negative effect on plant diversity either (19 species at 2 cuts vs. 20 species at 3 or 4 cuts). PK fertilisation increased the proportion of legumes in the herbage in the case of 2 or 3 cuts. The proportion of grasses in the herbage increased in all the fertilisation treatments with an increased numbers of cuts. Fertiliser treatment considerably reduced the proportion of marsh horsetail ( Equisetum palustre ) in the herbage of the meadows. This effect was even more pronounced at higher cut numbers. The proportion of Equisetum palustre in the herbage was the highest in the unfertilised sward with 2 cuts (26.4 %) and the lowest in the NPK-fertilised sward with 4 cuts (1.4%).

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