Soil fauna density, diversity and activity in different ages of rubber plantations
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Abstract
Rubber is the perennial and annual deciduous tree. Rubber leaves from defoliation are decomposed to soil organic matter. Soil fauna is the important driver of the litter degradation process which affects to nutrient cycling and amount of soil organic matter. The objectives of this study are to assess density and diversity of soil fauna by Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF) method and evaluate soil fauna activity using Litter Description method in three different ages of rubber plantations (6-8, 15-17 and more than 25 year-old) at Sanamchaikhet, Chachoengsao province, Thailand. The studied results showed that the abundance of soil fauna increased with age of rubber plantation. The soil fauna abundance was highest in more than 25 year-old rubber plantation. Richness index showed that the number of soil fauna species was highest in 6-8 year-old rubber plantation and it decreased with increasing plantation age. Moreover, the highest value of Pielou’s evenness index was found in 6-8 year-old rubber plantation and had statistically significant difference when compared to more than 25 year-old rubber plantation. Additionally, the Shannon’s diversity index had the highest value in 15-17 year-old rubber plantation. From the evaluation of soil fauna activity, the amount of earthworm cast, wood and fragment leaves had higher than other litter types in all ages of rubber plantation. The amount of earthworm cast increased with age of rubber plantation. The amount of wood was the highest in 15-17 year-old rubber plantation (39.87%) and lowest in more than 25 year-old rubber plantation (19.06%) while the amount of fragment leaves was the highest in 6-8 year-old rubber plantation. The amount of fragment leaves in 15-17 year-old rubber plantation showed similar value with more than 25 year-old rubber plantation. Moreover, the results showed that the best of wood degradation was found in more than 25 year-old rubber plantation while the best of litter degradation was found in 15-17 year-old rubber plantation following by more than 25 and 6-8 year-old rubber plantation, respectively. The fragment leaves, compacted litter and skeletonized leaves had the highest amount in 6-8 year-old rubber plantation while these amounts in 15-17 year-old and more than 25 year-old rubber plantation were similar. This indicated that the litter was rapidly decomposed to organic matter in 6-8 year-old rubber plantation. The highest amount of earthworm cast was found in more than 25 year-old rubber plantation following by 15-17 year-old and 6-8 year-old rubber plantation, respectively. This was probably because accumulation from young rubber plantation. However, earthworm abundance was the highest in 15-17 year-old rubber plantation following by 6-8 year-old and more than 25 year-old rubber plantation, respectively. This study illustrated that 15-17 year-old rubber plantation had the highest value of soil fauna diversity and activity. The increasing rate of soil organic matter from 6-8 year-old rubber plantation to 15-17 year-old rubber plantation (42%) is higher than the rate from 15-17 year-old rubber plantation to more than 25 year-old rubber plantation (18.3%).
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