In Slovenia, wild boar (Sus scrofa) accounts for 60 % of all damage caused by the game, of which more than half is caused by its rooting in meadows and pastures. With rooting it finds energy reach rhizomes, tubers and edaphones like insects and earthworms. By turning grass sward it reduces the crop and causes the farmer additional costs by repairing pits. The main objective of the study was to define the dynamics of damage occurrence on the grassland caused by wild boar rooting on the selected farm. In the vicinity of the farm, two pastures measuring 5 ha and 4 ha were selected for our experiment. The occurrence of damage on grassland was monitored two to three times a month, for a period of 8 months, from 17.4. 2018 to 24.11. 2018. We tested the method of determining the area of damage by analyzing photos taken with a drone, we monitored how grass sward is recovered in the rooted areas, and we performed excavation of earthworms in the rooted and non-rooted areas. We found that in the spring and autumn the wild boars rooted the most, whereas in June and July no rooting was present. The method of enumerating damage due to wild boar by analyzing drone photographs turned out to be inaccurate in April when the grass was in its early stages of development. On the other hand, in May, when the grass was already more developed, this method was more accurate. In April, there were more earthworms in the areas where the boars rooted than in the areas where the boars did not root. Anyhow, in the autumn we did not observe differences. With the Shannon diversity index, we found no statistically significant differences between plant species of the rooted and non-rooted areas.
|
