engleski

Earthworms and conservation soil tillage

The importance of soil organisms for soil health and, consequently, sustainable agriculture in the future became widely acknowledged. FAO’s Status of the world’s soil resources in 2015 concluded that the loss of soil biodiversity is considered one of the main global threats to soils in many regions of the world. Higher abundance and biomass of soil organisms are proven to reduce soil degradation and desertification. Soil biota can be classified in three categories: microfauna, mesofauna nad macrofauna. Earthworms belong to a macrofauna and are also known as ecosystem engineers. They affect soil structure by mixing soil layers and making biopores by burrowing. Additionally, it is proven that they positively affect plant production and pathogen control. Literature review shows overall decline of soil fauna including earthworms under agricultural ecosystems in Europe. Tillage systems can impact earthworms through changes of organic matter content, moisture and temperature dynamics and by mechanical damage. Yet, the response to tillage varies between different earthworm species, climate conditions and physico-cemical soil properties. Conservation tillage has been associated with numerous soil quality parameters improvements including increased earthworm activity and biomass. Moreover, under conservation tillage earthworms can play a more important role by exploiting their abilities of bioturbation and impact on nutrient cycling. Yet, experiments of different duration (mostly short-term vs. long-term) show some opposite effects and interactions between earthworms and conservation tillage. As we have to move forward to a more sustainable land management practices, more research is needed to fully understand those interactions and to resolve inconclusive or contradictory results.

tillage practices ; earthworms ; soil fauna

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