Diversity and Abundance of Soil Animals as Influenced by Long-Term Fertilization in Grey Desert Soil, China

Sustainability

Maibo Jiang¹  Xihe Wang¹  Yunhao Liusui³  Xueqing Sun¹  Chengyi Zhao²  Hua Liu¹ 

[1] Institute of Soil Fertilizer and Agricultural Water Saving, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, China; E-Mails:;State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Urumqi 830011, China;Institute of Forestry, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China; E-Mail:

关键词: long-term fertilization;    soil fauna;    crop yield;    grey desert soil;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su70810837

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The relationship between soil fauna and different fertilizer management practices is of growing concern. The aim of this research was to investigate the response of soil fauna to fertilization regimes, to explore the relationships among the community of soil animals, soil moisture and crop yields. The application of organic fertilizers (i.e., sheep manure or crop residues) increased crop yields and promoted the number of individuals and species of soil fauna owing to the exogenous organic matter that fertilizers provided for the survival and development of soil fauna. Furthermore, the treatments that applied sheep manure (i.e., sheep manure only or nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sheep manure plus) were significantly beneficial for increasing crop yields and diversity of soil fauna compared to treatments with crop residues returned (i.e., crop residues returned only or nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and crop residues returned to the field) (p < 0.05) due to the response of soil fauna to diverse exogenous nutrients and the effect of soil fertility. Therefore, the finding that soil fauna abundance is significantly positively correlated with soil moisture and crop yield may mean the effects of fertilizer applications on soil animals were partly masked by the soil moisture and crop yield.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.