Nutritional and Microbial Parameters of Earthworm Cast, Termite Mound and Surrounding Bulk Soil

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A comparative analysis of nutritional and microbial parameters was conducted on two types of biogenetic structures of earthworm cast (8.7 cm in height, 7 casts/1m×1m) formed by litter eating Pheretima sp., and mound (64 cm in height, 1.0 mounds/10m×50m) built by fungus growing termite, Macrotermes gilvus, and compared to the surrounding bulk soil as control in the tropical monsoon forest in Cu Chi National Park of Viet Nam. The proportion of the sand in the earthworm cast was higher than in the surrounding bulk soil, and the clay fraction in the termite mound was 1.6 times higher than that found in the surrounding soil, indicating the different selection by the earthworm or termite for soil particles. Earthworm casts were different from termite mounds in their organic C contents which were approximately seven times as high. Bacterial counts and soil enzymatic activities of β-glucosidase in casts were greatly higher than in the ambient soils, although microbial population and available N and P in the termite mound were significantly lower than those measured in their surrounding soils. On the whole, these results would suggest that plant nutrition is stored in the earthworm cast, but the mound soils of fungus growing termite is infertile.
九州大学の論文