Soil weed seed bank in the function of biodiversity

The effect of intensive agricultural practises on weed composition is well described for the aboveground flora, but less research has been done on how the impact might affect the soil weed seed bank. For this reason, during the course of three years (2014-2017), soil was sampled and the number of weed seeds in the soil was estimated for eight different management systems: (i) monoculture of maize, winter wheat and soybean, (ii) 2-year crop rotation (maize - winter wheat) with and without the application of mineral fertilizer, (iii) 3-year crop rotation (maize - winter wheat - soybean) with mineral fertilizer, with manure and without the application of fertilizer. The estimated soil weed seed bank was used to calculate the a and b diversity indices and determine the diversity, richness and uniformity of the weed community. The diversity indices confirmed that the diversity of the weed community is influenced by the strategy of crop rotation and the type of fertilization, that in the monoculture of winter wheat the diversity, number of dominant weed species and the uniformity of weed community are the lowest, while the 3-year crop rotation with mineral fertilization is the richest in biodiversity and weed community uniformity.