Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXVIII, Issue 2
Written by Romina MAZĂRE, Mădălina IORDACHE
The research aimed to characterize a silvoarable ecosystem from western Romania through an indirect biological indicator of soil sustainability: the earthworms’ casts. The ecosystem consisted of two components: a no-tilled woody perennial plant - Euro-American hybrid poplar trees (Populus deltoides x Populus nigra) and a conventional tilled agricultural crop – the rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) - hybrid LG Architect. The earthworms’ casts have been identified as belonging to two ecological groups: epigeic and anecic earthworms in the poplar plantation and anecic earthworms in the rapeseed plantation. For both categories, the analyzed parameters of the earthworm casts were pH, organic matter (humus), total nitrogen, plant-available phosphorus, and plant-available potassium. The values of these chemical parameters were higher for the earthworm casts collected from the rapeseed crop than those collected from the poplar plantation. The results showed statistically significant differences (p<0.05) between certain analyzed cast characteristics (total N, plant-available P, plant-available K) of the two plant sub-systems and the same characteristics of the surrounding soil, suggesting that the differences arise from the microhabitat ecological conditions provided by the establishing of the silvoarable system.
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