Earthworms Effect on Microbial Population and Soil Fertility as Well as Their Interaction with Agriculture Practices

Abstract

Earthworms mix soil layers and bind the soil with organic matter. This combination allows organic matter to disperse through the soil and also allows plants to access the nutrients they retains and enhance the soil’s fertility. Earthworms improve the soil’s biological, chemical, and physical characteristics and serve as soil conditioners. They do so by dissolution, aeration, soil organic breakdown, the release of plant nutrients, and their role in the fastening of nitrogen due to plant growth hormone secretion. However, a variety of soil and environmental factors influence the soil population. Furthermore, it remains uncertain how soil worms modify soil microbial communities’ composition and how they impact the soil’s microbial process. By feeding on microorganisms or selecting and stimulating specific microbial groups, earthworms reduce microbes’ activity and abundance. Earthworms directly impact the plant’s growth and recycling of nutrients but are mainly mediated by indirect microbial community change. Agricultural practices, including the use of pesticides, also contribute to the reduction in soil earthworms. There are no systematic associations among the abundance of earthworms, crop production, and contradictory influence on yield. Earthworms contain hormone-like substances, which encourage the health and growth of plants. This review presents the interaction of earthworms with soil fertility and different agricultural practices, including factors affecting earthworms’ population dynamics in all contexts that enable the adoption of acceptable environmental and earthworms-friendly farming practices for an optimum earthworm, productive, and fertile soil behavior.

Understanding trade-offs and synergies among soil functions to support decision-making for sustainable cultivated land use

“…Many measures or facts that violate traditional biodiversity protection, such as the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and soil disturbance caused by cultivation, must be included in the human management of cultivated land (Wang, 2022). Tillage practices are inadequate for soil worms but good for soil accessibility to roots, weed control, and increased crop yields (Ahmed and Al-Mutairi, 2022). In particular, intensification of land use, crop rotation and crop species, fertilizers and pH, the type and frequency of periodic tillage, pesticide application, and pollution (ecotoxicological studies) are the main driving forces influencing biodiversity in agricultural soils (Aksoy et al, 2017).…”

How to Remediate Heavy Metal Contamination in Soil?

“…Earthworms are currently the subject of the most investigation in studies on the cooperative restoration of animals and plants. Earthworms can both increase soil fertility and encourage plant root growth (43). Hexavalent chromium was removed from contaminated soil using a combination of bacteria, sludge, and straw (44), and the findings indicated that 1% straw plus 1% Compound bacteria and 30% sludge together reduce soil chromium by 96.6%, and this combination can provide the greatest effect.…”

Juvenile Earthworm Population Density in Hyderabad's Sewage Regions of Nagole

“…They are referred to be the farmer's friend and can be anything from a few microns to one or two metres in length (Phillips et al, 2021). Many studies on the impacts of earthworms on soil fertility, structure, and crop growth came to the conclusion that burrowing, casting, and other earthworm activities improved the soil's physico-chemical condition (Ahmed et al, 2022;Syers 1984; Reddy and Pasha 1993).…”