Abstract
The objective of this research was to determine the efficiency of different types of protective barriers and how they protect against fraying damage in extensive fruit tree orchards. Orchards in open agricultural land are the target of fraying damage caused by roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.). We assessed the effectiveness of four protective barriers: a rabbit-proof fence, a standard plastic tube commonly used in forestry, and an innovative plastic tube—variants with and without an additional rendering fat application. The study was situated in three extensive orchards in the southeastern part of Moravia in the Czech Republic. We analyzed the ratio of damaged trees, stem circumference damage, the length and height of damage on tree stems, the time periods with the most observed damage, and finally, the economic efficiency of each studied barrier. Most of the damage was observed in April and July. The most effective protective barrier was the innovative tube with rendering fat application (up to 100%) followed closely by the innovative tube without rendering fat application (95%). The standard plastic tube had an effectiveness of 49%, while the rabbit-proof fence was the least effective at 25%. In terms of the mean damage-lengths on tree stems, we found no significant differences between the rabbit-proof fence and the standard plastic tubes (21–22 cm). The usage of the innovative plastic tube without rendering fat reduced the average damage-length by half (10 cm) as compared to standard types (rabbit-proof fence, standard tube) of protection. The damage-heights on tree stems showed no significant differences among all variants (53–58 cm from the ground). Our analysis of economic parameters showed that rabbit-proof fencing had the worst cost efficiency, while the innovative tubes without rendering fat, had the best cost efficiency. We recommend starting the installation of protective barriers on trees in March, since we recorded relatively high activity of male roe deer in the following months.
Highlights
In the last centuries, agricultural landscapes have provided suitable microhabitats for many plant and animal species due to their diversity, the mosaic of landscape patches, or crop diversity [1,2]
The aim of this study is to (1) determine the best application time for stem protective barriers based on year-long damage distribution observations in locations with high population density of roe deer, (2) to compare the effectiveness of innovative stem protection tubes with standard tubes typically used in forestry, and (3) to evaluate the economic efficiency of the selected protection types
The only ungulate game species present in this district are roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and approximately 52 individuals have been hunted per year
Summary
Agricultural landscapes have provided suitable microhabitats for many plant and animal species due to their diversity, the mosaic of landscape patches, or crop diversity [1,2]. The intensification of agriculture along with the declining number of cultivated species in the landscape have led to dramatic biodiversity loss and an overall homogenization of the landscape in the last few decades [1,3]. Worldwide soil degradation is another negative effect of agricultural intensification [4]. The vegetative coverage found in orchards protects the soil against erosion therein supporting long-term sustainability of the agricultural landscape [6]. One option to increase landscape diversity is to plant solitary trees or establish extensive orchards, which has been found to affect biodiversity (mainly of weed species) [7,8,9]. Agricultural management practices directly affect bird populations [13] which are dependent on plant diversity and insect species
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