Abstract
Earthworms have been shown to increase plant growth in 75% of the experiments that have compared plant growth in their presence and absence. However, the relative importance of the different mechanisms advanced to explain such a stimulatory effect has never been tested. In a laboratory experiment, we observed increased growth of rice plants in the presence of earthworms ( Millsonia anomala, Megascolecidae) and demonstrated that enhanced nitrogen release (generally considered as the principal mechanism involved in earthworm positive effect on plants) was not responsible for this result: earthworms had the same stimulatory effect on plant growth (+20%) irrespective of whether the soil (provided with different amounts of mineral-N fertilizer) was either N-limited or N-saturated. We discuss alternative explanations for the observed variations in rice production.
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