Food and habitat preferences of the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris L. for cover crops

Valckx, Jan; Pina, Andrea Cordón; Govers, Gérard; Hermy, Martin; Muys, Bart

doi:10.1016/j.pedobi.2011.07.004

Cited by 26 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The residue with a C/N ratio of 12.31 was preferred more than the cover crop residue with C/N ratio of ~ 8 [26]. The residue of herbaceous species with the same level of palatability on the C/N ratio of 11.4 -15 was more widely consumed by the earthworms [27,28]. In addition to the difference in the quality of organic matter, the rate application of organic matter also had significant impact on the population density, biomass and weight per individual of the earthworm in which the greater the application rate of organic materials was, the higher the population density, biomass and weight per individual of earthworm would be.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthworm Population Density in Sugarcane Cropping System Applied with Various Quality of Organic Matter

Nurhidayati¹,

Arisoesilaningsih²,

Suprayogo³

et al. 2012

JTLS

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Earthworms population in the soil are greatly impacted by agricultural management, yet little is known about how the quality and quantity of organic matter addition interact in sugarcane cropping system to earthworm population. This study describes the effect of various organic matter and application rates on earthworms in sugarcane cropping system. Earthworms were collected in April, July and December from 48 experimental plots under five kinds of organic matter application : (1) cattle manure, (2) filter cake of sugar mill, (3) sugarcane trash, (4) mixture of cattle manure+filter cake, and (5) mixture of cattle manure+sugarcane trash. There were three application rates of the organic matter (5, 10, and 15 ton ha -1 ). The treatments were arranged in factorial block randomize design with three replications and one treatment as a control (no organic input). Earthworms were collected using monolith sampling methods and hand-sorted from each plot, and measured its density (D) (indiv.m -2 ), biomass (B) (g m -2 ) and B/D ratio (g/indiv.). All the plots receiving organic matter input had higher earthworm density, biomass, and B/D ratio than the control. The highest earthworm population density was found in the plot receiving application of sugarcane trash (78 indiv.m -2 ) and the mixture of cattle manure+sugarcane trash (84 indiv.m -2 ). The increase in application rates of organic matter could increase the earthworm density and biomass. Earthworm population density also appeared to be strongly influenced by the quality of organic matter, such as the C-organic, N, C/N ratio, lignin, polyphenols, and cellulose content. Earthworm preferred low quality organic matter. It was caused by the higher energy of low quality organic matter than high quality organic matter. Our finding s suggest that the input of low quality organic matter with application rate as 10 ton ha -1 is important for maintaining earthworm population and soil health in sugarcane land.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earthworm Population Density in Sugarcane Cropping System Applied with Various Quality of Organic Matter

Nurhidayati¹,

Arisoesilaningsih²,

Suprayogo³

et al. 2012

JTLS

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“…Residues with C/N ratio of 12.3 are preferred than C/N ratio of 8. Neilson and Boag [24] and Valckx et al [25] reported that the grasses residue with the same palatability on the C/N ratio of 11.4 to 15 is more consumed by earthworms. Increase in the application rates of organic matter increases the population density and biomass of earthworms.…”

Section: Effect Of Quality Of Organic Matter On Earthwormmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement of Physical and Biological Quality of Soil in a Sugarcane Plantation through the Management of Organic Matter Input

Nurhidayati¹,

Endang²,

Arisoesilaningsih³

et al. 2015

JAST-A

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Abstract:Changes in soil quality of sugarcane plantation as a result of changes in land management can not be measured directly, but must be demonstrated by measuring the change in the properties of the ecosystem as an indicator. This research aimed to study the effect of the addition of various quality and quantity of organic matter on soil biology (earthworms) and physical quality (aggregate stability, macroporosity and infiltration rate). There were 15 treatment combinations tested. The first factor is the type of organic matter: (1) cattle manure (CM), (2) filter cake (FC), (3) sugarcane trash (ST), (4) a mixture of CM + FC and (5) a mixture of CM + ST. The second factor is the application dose of organic matter, which consists of three levels-5, 10 and 15 Mg/ha. The treatments were arranged in a factorial randomized block design with three replicates and one control treatment (without organic matter input). The result of this research showed that the highest population density of earthworms was found in the treatment of ST (78 individuals/m 2 ) and a mixture of CM + ST (84 individuals/m 2 ). The type of organic matter with C/N ratio ranged from 15.5 to 34.7 and cellulose content in 33.3%-40.1% gave better growth of earthworm. The effect of increase in earthworm growth on soil physical improvement is more apparent in the treatment of mixture of low quality and high quality organic matter. The increase of earthworm density and biomass enhanced soil macroporosity (from r = 0.683 to r = 0.606) and infiltration rate (from r = 0.669 to r = 0.756). The results of this study suggest a mixture of CM + ST or ST alone as organic matters, which is recommended to improve soil physical and biological quality of sugarcane land, with the dose application ranged from 10 Mg/ha to 15 Mg/ha.Key words: Quality and quantity of organic matter, earthworms, physical and biological quality of soil.

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“…For the experiment, white mustard (Sinapis alba L. var. Rivona) plant biomass was used as litter because it is used as a cover crop, it is relatively easy to grow and to label effectively, and preference tests with L. terrestris have shown that this young, N-rich and structurally soft biomass becomes palatable quickly to earthworms (Valckx et al, 2011). Plots…”

Section: Site Description and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consequences of anecic earthworm removal over 18 months for earthworm assemblages and nutrient cycling in a grassland

et al. 2018

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Food and habitat preferences of the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris L. for cover crops

Cited by 26 publications

References 23 publications

Earthworm Population Density in Sugarcane Cropping System Applied with Various Quality of Organic Matter

Earthworm Population Density in Sugarcane Cropping System Applied with Various Quality of Organic Matter

Improvement of Physical and Biological Quality of Soil in a Sugarcane Plantation through the Management of Organic Matter Input

Consequences of anecic earthworm removal over 18 months for earthworm assemblages and nutrient cycling in a grassland

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