Evaluation and quantification of some short time ecosystem services in faba bean agroecosystem

The conditions and processes which ecosystem and the species that make up their structure ensure the continuity of human life and meet their needs are defined as the ecosystem service. Evaluating the ecosystems services is the best way to pay the attention of the community and policy makers and try to maintain and improve them. Ecosystem goods and services are generally classified into four groups: provision, regulating, supporting and culture. The aim of this study was to evaluate and quantify some short time ecosystem services in a faba bean agroecosystem of Gorgan region condition. A field experiment was carried out as a randomized complete blocks design with three replications on research farm of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, during 2019-2020. In this experiment, five faba bean cultivars including Feyz, G-faba1-2, Boroujerd, Shadan, and Mahta were considered as experimental treatments. From the during the growth season, some short time ecosystem services were measured and quantified. In order to estimate the provision sevices, were harvested an area by a quadrat 0.5×0.5 m2 at 70% of pod maturity stage. Also, plant diversity sampling was done from each plot using quadrat 0.25×0.25 m2 randomly. Data were analyzed using SAS software version 9.1 and the means were compared using LSD test at a probability level of 5%. The results showed that some services were different in the studied cultivars. According to the results, faba bean cultivation increased soil organic matter in most plots, but there was no significant difference between cultivars in terms of carbon accumulation in plant biomass. Results showed that different faba bean cultivars had significant effects on supply of provision services such as green pod and total biomass in the level of 1% probability. Based on obtained results, Feyz and G-faba1-2 cultivars had the highest value and Boroujerd cultivar had the lowest value of provision services. Also, the amount of grain protein in Mahta (28%) was higher than other cultivars. The results showed that coarse and medium grained-groups had the highest biomass compared to fine grained group due to producing a large volume of foliage, more sunlight absorption and that resulted the more photosynthesis potential. By assassmet the weeds diversity in the experimental plots, we were identified 10 weed species belonging to 8 families. Sinapis arvensis L., Phalaris minor, Veronica persica and Polygonum convolvulus had the highest relative abundance. In general, coarse bean cultivars along with Mahta medium-grain cultivar provided more ecosystem services than other cultivars. Therefore, these cultivars can be considered in terms of providing more agroecological services for production in Gorgan region.