Responses of soil arthropods to fertilisation with ruminant manure in irrigated buffel grass production

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to characterise the edaphic macrofauna in soil cultivated with Cenchrus ciliaris L. under irrigation and fertilised with ruminant manure in a Brazilian semi-arid region. The experimental design was in split plots. The main plot was composed using tanned manure from 3 species of ruminants (goat, cattle and sheep), in addition to the control treatment (without manure). The subplots were composed of 3 production cycles of buffel grass. Collections of edaphic macrofauna were performed every 28 days. A total of 3453 arthropods were collected, distributed in 15 taxonomic groups representing 12 orders, 7 of which belong to the Insecta class; 3 from the Arachnid class; and 2 from the Diplopoda class. Ants (Formicidae) accounted for 86.76% of this abundance and were followed by representatives of the orders Araneae (4.26%), Polydesmida (3.61%) and Scarabaeidae (1.58%). Principal Components 1 and 2 explained 56% of the data variation. Bovine manure attracted a greater abundance of individuals, mainly ants. Goat manure showed the highest abundance (p < 0.0013) of the Scarabaeidae class, while sheep manure showed the highest abundance (p < 0.0110) of the Embioptera. The number of individuals varied between the beginning and end of each cycle.