Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in earthworm casts and surrounding soil in relation to soil management of a semi-arid tropical Alfisol

Abstract

Spores and infective propagules of vesicular-arbuscular (VA) mycorrhiza were examined in earthworm casts and field soils collected from three different soil management treatments (zero tillage with straw amendment, deep tillage without amendment (bare), and zero tillage with previous perennial cropping of Stylosanthes hamata) on an Alfisol in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of India. The average mean of spore counts and most probable number (MPN) of infective propagules of VA mycorrhiza (VAM) were significantly ( P < 0.05) higher in earthworm casts than in field soil across the three soil management treatments. There was no significant difference in the number of VAM spores or propagules among field soils from the three different soil management treatments, but the number of VAM spores and propagules in the earthworm casts from the deep tillage bare treatment was significantly higher ( P ≤ 0.05) than in the earthworm casts from the other two treatments. In the deep tillage bare treatment, the number of spores and MPN of infective propagules were significantly ( P < 0.05) higher in earthworm casts than in field soil. Therefore, it may be concluded that earthworms can concentrate VA mycorrhizal spores and propagules in their casts.