Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the diversity and abundance of edaphic fauna organisms in single and intercropped systems of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and ecologically-based popcorn (Zea mays) in Red Oxisol, in the Northwest region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Four sweet potato cultivars were used in single systems and intercropped with popcorn: BRS Amélia, BRS Rubissol, BRS Cuia and Crioula. The soil fauna assessment was carried out using PROVID-type traps. Richness, abundance and the dominance indices of Shannon (H’) and Simpson (D) were determined. The orders Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Collembola and Orthoptera, were dominant in both cultivation systems. The single cultivation showed a greater number of organisms in the orders Isopoda and Collembola, whereas in the intercropped system, the orders Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera stood out. The intercropping cultivation of sweet potato and popcorn shows highest diversity and abundance of soil organisms compared to the single cultivation.
Highlights
Agriculture is a fundamental factor in the process of the Brazilian economic development, accounting for 21.4% of the total Brazilian gross domestic product (Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics - CEPEA, 2020)
The orders of organisms that predominated in all treatments were Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Collembola and Orthoptera, which corresponded to 34.39%, 24.09, 12.66% and 10.91% of the total organisms collected, respectively
According to Silva et al (2012), this is because the single cultivation system, allows a less soil coverage and less total biomass input, which enables an intense solar irradiation, mainly causing high water evaporation from the soil, and the reduction of soil biodiversity
Summary
Agriculture is a fundamental factor in the process of the Brazilian economic development, accounting for 21.4% of the total Brazilian gross domestic product (Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics - CEPEA, 2020). The edaphic fauna can be influenced by the cultivation system (Silva et al, 2015; Balin et al, 2017; Costa & Drescher, 2018), land use (Da Silva et al, 2016; Almeida et al, 2017), fertilization (Alves et al, 2008; Da Silva et al, 2016), among other factors, such as cultural practices, which directly influence the edaphic population (Gatiboni et al, 2009; Silva et al, 2013) This effect may be related to the permanence of organic residues on the soil (Antoniolli et al, 2006), collection period (Da Silva et al, 2016), or even according to the taxonomic group found (Silva et al, 2015; Rezende et al, 2017). That the soil fauna is sensitive to changes in the environment and can be considered as a good indicator of the biological quality of the soil and useful in the evaluation of agroecosystems (Nunes et al, 2009)
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