3rd World Congress of Environmental History

The biocultural legacy of seeds: wheat varieties and changes in Mediterranean agroecosystems throughout the 20th century

• In Event: Biocultural Heritages: When History Matters for the Ecosystem Services provided by Biodiversity Conservation in Agroecological Landscapes

Abstract

The high grain yield of modern seed varieties (MV) respond to the consumption increase in external inputs of fossil origin, and the widespread belief that they are more productive than old varieties (OV) is based on a biased observation. This conventional belief is only takes into account the marketable biomass, without considering the consequences in agroecosystem sustainability of the reductions in other portions of vegetal biomass. In this communication we present the results obtained in a fieldwork comparison between modern an old varieties of wheat. Our results shows that under Mediterranean rain-fed conditions and traditional organic management, aerial and belowground biomass production of OV is higher than MV, without significantly decreasing yield and enabling a higher competition against weeds. Old varieties also play a key role in the reproduction of the agroecosystem fund components (fertile soils, livestock feeding integrated with farming, functional wildlife), thus reducing the use of herbicides and helping the recovery of biodiversity.

Authors

• Manuel González de Molina, Agroecosystem History Lab at the Pablo de Olavide University

• Enric Tello, University of Barcelona