Effects of soil mesofauna and farming management on decomposition of clover litter: a microcosm experiment

Abstract

The effects of soil mesofauna and different farming systems on decomposition of clover ( Trifolium repens) litter were investigated in a laboratory experiment. Microcosms were incubated for 16 weeks with fine and coarse litterbags in soils from three types of management systems: fallow, integrated farming and organic farming, the latter two cropped with wheat. The effects were studied by analysing litter mass loss, C and N content, DOC, nitrate and pH in soil leachate, and CO 2 production, as well as mesofauna. Mesofauna significantly accelerated mass loss and C and N release from clover litter in all three soils. With mesofauna access, at the end of the experiment average clover mass loss was almost twice as high and clover C and N content were 60% lower than without mesofauna. Farming systems influenced the decomposition through affecting both element turnover and mesofauna. Although in the first weeks less N was leached from organic farming than from integrated farming soil, cumulative N leaching did not differ between these soils. However, more than 20% less N was leached from the fallow soil than from the field soils. CO 2 production was highest in fallow soil. Here, mesofauna had no effect on this variable. In soil with integrated farming, mesofauna reduced cumulative CO 2 production by 10% whereas in soil from organic farming it increased CO 2 production by 20%. Our data suggest that differences in C and N turnover in different management systems are strongly mediated by soil mesofauna.