Edaphic fauna in soil profile after three decades of different soil management and cover crops in a subtropical region

This research evaluated the effects of long-term (30 years) winter cover crops under conventional farming system and no-tillage system on edaphic fauna in a Rhodic Hapludox soil, from Parana State, Brazil. We used three winter cover crops (black oat, hairy vetch and fallow), and as a reference a fragment of natural forest. Soil monoliths were collected at two times, one during the flowering of maize (April 2013) and the other during the flowering of soybean (January 2014). The extraction of the monoliths was carried out in three layers in the soil profile (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm). Seventeen taxonomic groups were sampled. The density of the edaphic fauna is inversely related to soil depth. The winter crops associated with the no-tillage system in long-term resulted in fauna densities similar to the natural environment, with a higher density (density increase of 2.2x) at a depth of 10-20 cm in areas with black oat. At 0-10 cm depth, black oat and vetch under no-tillage systems resulted in an increase of 62% and 69% (April 2013) and 46 and 44% (January 2014), respectively, in the density of soil fauna, when compared to the same winter crops in conventional farming system.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the effects of long-term winter cover crops under conventional farming system and no-tillage system on edaphic fauna in a Rhodic Hapludox soil in Parana State, Brazil. Three winter cover crops and a fragment of natural forest were used. Soil monoliths were collected at two different times and the density of edaphic fauna was measured. Results showed that the density of edaphic fauna was inversely related to soil depth. The use of winter cover crops with no-tillage system resulted in higher densities of fauna compared to the conventional farming system.