Abstract

Addition of organic wastes such as animal manures and straw is a feasible practice to alleviate soil degradation, and the mitigation is closely related to the activities of soil-dwelling fauna. In this study, the community structure of soil fauna were compared under four treatment regimes: straw only, and straw combined with the use of chicken manure, ox manure and pig manure. A total of 12459 soil fauna were captured, belonging to 23 groups. Treatments animal manure combined with straw led to increased the number of soil fauna groups and individuals, diversity index, richness index and dominance index, while reduced the evenness index of soil fauna. Compared to the other treatments, maize straw plus chicken manure and maize straw plus pig manure treatments had the largest number of soil fauna groups. Among all the treatments, Oribatida, Astigmata, Desoria and Folsomia were the dominant species, accounting for 69.94 % of the total number of individuals. Maize straw plus pig manure treatment had the largest diversity index soil fauna community. The richness index of soil fauna community in maize straw plus chicken manure and maize straw plus pig manure treatments were higher compared to other treatments. The highest dominance index of soil fauna was recorded in maize straw plus ox manure treatment. In conclusion, our findings suggested that animal manure combined with straw, especially the application of maize straw plus pig manure was the most effective treatment for enhancing soil fauna community.

Highlights

  • Soil fauna is widely distributed in the farmland ecosystem and is involved in many important soil ecological processes and play key roles in maintenance of soil structure stability (Brussaard, 1998)

  • A total of 12459 soil fauna specimens were identified during our study (Table 2), among which Oribatida, Astigmata, Desoria and Folsomia were the dominant ones across all treatments, accounting for 69.94% of the total number of individuals

  • straw plus chicken manure (SC) and straw plus pig manure (SP) treatments had the largest number of soil fauna groups, indicating that compared with the soil environment formed by straw returning to the field, Sminthurus, Aphididae, Scutigerellidae, Proisotoma, Lepidocyrtus and other new species are more suitable for living in the environment formed by chicken manure and straw, pig manure and straw

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Summary

Introduction

Soil fauna is widely distributed in the farmland ecosystem and is involved in many important soil ecological processes and play key roles in maintenance of soil structure stability (Brussaard, 1998). The diversity and community composition of soil fauna are affected by the quality and quantity of food, physical and chemical properties and biological characteristics of soil, and can reflect the health status of soil (Bian et al, 2019). Human activities such as agricultural cultivation, land use intensity and farmland restoration will change soil environment, which can directly affect the composition and nutrient structure of soil ecosystem (Morriën, 2016). The external environment and human activities can alter the quantity and quality of food resources as well as soil characteristics, thereby affecting the composition and diversity of soil fauna communities (Menta et al, 2020)

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