Soil macrofauna in organic and conventional coffee plantations in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil has always been one of the most important coffee producing countries. Lately, there has equally been a renewed interest in alternative coffee production systems. The state of Espírito Santo is the second greatest coffee producer in Brazil; so, we used local coffee plantations to evaluate the relations between soil macrofauna and chemical and microbiological soil properties to identify which of these properties discriminate more effectively between the organic management system (OS) and the conventional management system (CS) of coffee plantations. For each of these two cultivation systems we chose three coffee farms who employed both cultivation systems and picked out the most similar fields from each property. At each site, first we sampled the litter at the soil surface. Afterwards, we sampled nine soil monoliths to evaluate the macrofauna, in summer and winter. We also collected nine supplemental soil samples, taken at a few centimeters from the soil monoliths, for chemical and microbiological analyses. Macrofauna density was evaluated by ANOVA and multivariate analysis. The chemical and microbiological properties are environmental variables, while the data on macrofauna are the explanatory variables. The total number of individuals recovered in this study was 3,354, and the climate, identified by the sampling season, was a great modulator of macrofauna, with higher numbers in winter. The principal components analysis showed that soil moisture, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, boron, copper, pH, acid and alkaline phosphatases and microbial biomass carbon, were the most outstanding ones to discriminate both cultivation systems. We found no statistical significant differences in macrofauna density between OS and CS, probably due to a general great variability, since there was a tendency for much greater values in OS. We detected the interference of chemical and microbiological soil properties on the macrofauna community in both systems of coffee cultivation, and some results clearly correlated much better with climate data than with other factors. To our knowledge, this is the first time in which the data point to a clear separation between the more numerous and diversified soil macrofauna in coffee with organic cultivation from that with a conventional cultivation system.

Soil Macrofauna and Edaphic Properties in Coffee Production Systems in Southern Colombia

“…Soil acidity (pH) in coffee production systems corresponded to acid soils with significantly higher values in traditional coffee plantations (Table 2). These results coincide with Santos et al (2018), who report an increase of soil pH up to 6.0 in coffee plantations under organic management.…”

“…Soil macrofauna constitutes an important component of soil biota given the significant impact of their activities in ecosystem functions (Kamau et al, 2017), besides being part of different trophic levels, presents interactions with the edaphic properties (Lavelle et al, 2006). There are physical and chemical soil properties that interact with soil macrofauna groups by influencing their metabolism, while at the same time responding to the behavior of soil macrofauna (Santos et al, 2018;Oliveira et al, 2018). The most cited physical properties are soil texture, soil density and porosity, which are associated with soil structure (Rousseau et al, 2012), while the chemical properties are associated to organic matter content, soil fertility and nutrient availability (Lima et al, 2010).…”

Fauna edáfica como indicadora de qualidade do solo em fragmentos florestais e área sob cultivo do cafeeiro

“…Estudos como o deGrosso, Jorge & Brown (2006) destacam que no manejo agrícola convencional, com intensidade de uso do solo, a comunidade de minhocas é composta majoritariamente por espécies exóticas devido à sua maior adaptabilidade. O fato das espécies de minhocas exóticas predominarem, representa um risco para a sobrevivência das espécies nativas(SANTOS et al, 2018).Na área de CA, a umidade foi a variável ambiental explicativa que pode ter contribuído para a presença dos grupos Col e Oli. A fauna edáfica é influenciada pela umidade do solo, pois de modo geral preferem solos úmidos.…”

Organic Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems

“…In addition to the earthworms, arthropods that constitute the edaphic macrofauna [87,132,133] are also of great interest. Millipedes (Myriapoda: Diplopoda) fragment and feed on organic wastes and excrete low C/N ratio feces (2.2% N) producing the millicompost [134][135][136].…”