The Role of Different Earthworm Species ( Metaphire Hilgendorfi and Eisenia Fetida ) on CO 2 Emissions and Microbial Biomass during Barley Decomposition

Toru Hamamoto and Yoshitaka Uchida
Additional contact information
Toru Hamamoto: Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo Hokkaido 060-8589, Japan
Yoshitaka Uchida: Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo Hokkaido 060-8589, Japan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 23, 1-10

Abstract: Earthworms are commonly known as essential modifiers of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles, but the effects of their species on nutrient cycles and interaction with soil microbial activities during the decomposition of organic materials remain unclear. We conducted an incubation experiment to investigate the effect of two different epigeic earthworms ( M. hilgendorfi and E. fetida ) on C and N concentrations and related enzyme activities in agricultural soils with added barley residues (ground barley powder). To achieve this, four treatments were included; (1) M. hilgendorfi and barley, (2) E. fetida and barley, (3) barley without earthworms, and (4) without earthworms and without barley. After 32 days incubation, we measured soil pH, inorganic N, microbial biomass C (MBC), water or hot-water soluble C, and soil enzyme activities. We also measured CO 2 emissions during the incubation. Our results indicated the earthworm activity in soils had no effect on the cumulative CO 2 emissions. However, M. hilgendorfi had a potential to accumulate MBC (2.9 g kg −1 soil) and nitrate-N (39 mg kg −1 soil), compared to E. fetida (2.5 g kg −1 soil and 14 mg kg −1 soil, respectively). In conclusion, the interaction between soil microbes and earthworm is influenced by earthworm species, consequently influencing the soil C and N dynamics.

Keywords: epigeic earthworm; soil carbon; soil nitrogen; soil enzyme activity; agricultural soil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/23/6544/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/23/6544/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:23:p:6544-:d:288974

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().