Evaluation of Agrobiodiversity and its Effects on the Sustainability of a Wheat-Cotton Cropping System in Khorassan

Biodiversity, which is a necessity of sustainable agriculture, can provide species that may act as natural enemies for biological control or genes for increasing crop resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The improvement of biodiversity by introducing crop species which have functions similar to off-farm inputs, reduces an agroecosystem’s dependency and increases its self-sufficiency and sustainability. In order to evaluate the agrobiodiversity of a wheat-cotton cropping system and its effects on ecological sustainability, a survey was conducted in Khorassan province (eastern Iran). Agrobiodiversity indicators were the growing of other crops than wheat and cotton, planting forage legumes, green manure, livestock presence and diversity in the farm.The data were collected from Neyshabour, Bardaskan and Ferdows using 518 questionnaires. Results showed that only 7.9 and 1.4 percent of farmers grow forage legumes and green manure, respectively; 78 percent of farmers grow at least oneother crop than wheat and cotton while 47.5 percent of farmers have one or more kinds of livestock in their farms which are mainly considered for family consumption. Results also proved a significant correlation between all agrobiodiversity indicators with ecological sustainability in this cropping system.