Abstract
The soil biota benefits soil productivity and contributes to the sustainable function of all ecosystems. The cycling of nutrients is a critical function that is essential to life on earth. Earthworms (EWs) are a major component of soil fauna communities in most ecosystems and comprise a large proportion of macrofauna biomass. Their activity is beneficial because it can enhance soil nutrient cycling through the rapid incorporation of detritus into mineral soils. In addition to this mixing effect, mucus production associated with water excretion in earthworm guts also enhances the activity of other beneficial soil microorganisms. This is followed by the production of organic matter. So, in the short term, a more significant effect is the concentration of large quantities of nutrients (N, P, K, and Ca) that are easily assimilable by plants in fresh cast depositions. In addition, earthworms seem to accelerate the mineralization as well as the turnover of soil organic matter. Earthworms are known also to increase nitrogen mineralization, through direct and indirect effects on the microbial community. The increased transfer of organic C and N into soil aggregates indicates the potential for earthworms to facilitate soil organic matter stabilization and accumulation in agricultural systems, and that their influence depends greatly on differences in land management practices. This paper summarises information on published data on the described subjects.
Highlights
Protection of the soil habitat is the first step towards sustainable management of its biological properties that determine long-term quality and productivity
There is increasing evidence that soil macroinvertebrates play a key role in SOM transformations and nutrient dynamics at different spatial and temporal scales through perturbation and the production of biogenic structures for the improvement of soil fertility and land productivity [4, 5]
In cultivated tropical soils, where organic matter is frequently related to fertility and productivity, the communities of invertebrates—especially earthworm SOM (EW)—could play an important role in (SOM) dynamics by the regulation of the mineralization and humification processes [7,8,9]
Summary
Protection of the soil habitat is the first step towards sustainable management of its biological properties that determine long-term quality and productivity. Our studies on the role of EWs in the nitrogen cycling during the cropping phase of shifting agriculture in North East India showed (Table 7) that the total soil nitrogen made available for plants through the activity of EWs was higher than the total input of nitrogen to the soil through the addition of slashed vegetation, inorganic and organic manure, recycled crop residues, and weeds [54]. An important role of EWs is the dramatic increase in soil pH as observed through our studies in shifting agroecosystem in North East India, in a sedentary terrace agroecosystem in central Himalayas, and in intensive agroecosystem in IndoGangetic plains This increases microbial activity and N fixation in the soil, so that nitrogen in the worm cast may be due at least in part to this rather than to concentration by gain worms. This is a feedback mechanism where the technology adopted in the fields is further improved in the laboratories based on the feedback received from the technology adopters so as to provide more convincing information to technology adopters
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