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WFL Publisher Science and Technology Meri-Rastilantie 3 B, FI-00980 Helsinki, Finland e-mail: [email protected] Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol.9 (3&4): 983-987. 2011 www.world-food.net Edaphic mesofauna (springtails and mites) in soil cultivated with baby corn and treated with swine wastewater combined with chemical fertilization Dinéia Tessaro 1, Silvio César Sampaio 1, Luis Francisco Angeli Alves 1, Jonathan Dieter 2, Cláudia Saramago Carvalho Marques Dos Santos Cordovil 3 and Amarilis De Varennes 3 1 Department of Water Resources and Environmental Sanitation of State University of West of Parana – UNIOESTE, Universitaria, 2069, 85819-110. Cascavel, Parana, Brazil. 2 Department of Agronomy, Federal University of Parana – UFPR, Pioneiro, 2153, 85950-000. Palotina, Parana, Brazil. 3 Department of Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Agronomy, Technical University of Lisboa – UTL, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisboa, Portugal. e-mail: [email protected] Received 9 July 2011, accepted 25 September 2011. Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the application of swine wastewater (0, 100, 200 and 300 m3 ha1) combined with nitrogen fertilization (0, 100, 200 and 300 m3 ha1) in a typical red dystroferric latosol cultivated with baby corn. To evaluate the mesofauna, pitfall traps were set up. Collembola specimens were classified at the order level and Acarina specimens were classified at the family level. The results show that the density of the Collembola group increased with the application of swine wastewater up to the dose of 200 m3 ha-1 and it was not affected by chemical fertilization. The Acarina group was negatively affected by chemical fertilization and was not influenced by swine wastewater. Key words: Edaphic fauna, swine wastewater, water reuse. Introduction Swine breeding is carried out as a large-scale activity in many countries, and it has increased every year worldwide, including in Brazil, where the south region stands out for its large production1. A major characteristic of swine breeding is the production of large amounts of slurry, which is used as fertilizer in annual crops and in pastures. However, the size of the farms associated to pig production are usually incompatible with the amount of waste produced, and this waste is often applied in doses higher than soil retention capacity, thus changing this fertilizer into a pollutant 12 due to the high level of organic matter, nutrients, and heavy metal load that can build up in the soil, and runoff or leach 28, 23, 9, 20, 21. The use of organic residues such as slurry can influence the soil biota, as these residues act as a nutrient source, change the soil temperature and cover, and contain toxic compounds and hazardous heavy metals which may affect the fauna negatively 4-16. Among the organisms which constitute the soil biota, the mesofauna comprises a series of edaphic groups. However, the majority of the studies have investigated the most representative groups, such as Acarina and Collembola, which carry out trophic activities, consuming microorganism and microfauna, as well as fragmenting decomposing vegetable material 8. Edaphic mites and springtails are the most representative groups in terms of their numbers in the soil. As a result of their apteral characteristic and their sensitivity to alterations in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the soil, their populations quickly respond to variations in the quality of the environment 24, 18, 7. Although the studies on the effects of the use of swine wastewater on the mesofauna are still incipient, there are signs that it modifies the density of springtails and mites in soil 3. Aware of the importance and the sensitivity of the soil mesofauna to environmental variations, this study sought to evaluate the effect of the application of swine wastewater associated with chemical fertilization (CF) on the density of the edaphic mesofauna of a typical red dystroferric latosol cultivated with baby corn in subtropical conditions. Materials and Methods This study was carried out in Cascavel, Paraná State, Brazil (24º48’S and 53º26’W) at an altitude of 760 m. The climate is wet subtropical (Cfa) with mean rainfall of 1800 mm, hot summers, infrequent frosts and with a tendency to the highest concentration of rainfall in the summer; however, the dry season is undefined. The mean temperature is 20°C and relative humidity of the air is 75% 14. The soil of the study area is typical red dystroferric latosol with a very clay-like texture 22. It has received nutrient input from swine wastewater (SW) application and chemical fertilization (CF). We point out that the studied treatments have been used since 2006, which ensures a history of three years of application of SW combined with CF in each treatment. At the beginning of this study, which was performed in 2008, the soil was chemically characterized before the application of the treatments (Table 1). SW was obtained from an integrated biosystem made up of a Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.9 (3&4), July-October 2011 983 Table 1. Mean initial chemical parameters of the soil of the experimental plots before the application of the treatments. Treatments Parameters pH OM (g/dm3) P (mg/dm3) K (cmolc/dm3) Ca (cmolc/dm3) Mg (cmolc/dm3) Na (mg/dm3) H+Al (cmolc/dm3) Base sum (cmolc/dm3) CTC (cmolc/dm3) C (g/dm3) Sat. bases (%) Fe (mg/dm3) Mn (mg/dm3) Cu (mg/dm3) Zn (mg/dm3) CF 0 6.48 19.78 8.68 0.35 5.85 3.71 2.91 2.72 9.93 12.66 12.67 72.06 96.69 62.16 10.72 2.21 SW 100 6.55 21.78 13.77 0.45 5.81 3.45 2.50 2.66 9.72 12.39 11.50 77.88 99.35 62.52 10.49 2.96 0 6.55 20.31 8.87 0.22 5.86 3.71 2.66 2.72 9.82 12.55 11.80 77.32 105.21 60.47 10.39 2.02 100 6.61 20.72 11.63 0.30 6.24 3.69 2.50 2.42 10.24 12.66 12.04 80.64 96.74 63.91 10.31 2.87 200 6.36 20.83 14.21 0.49 5.36 3.30 3.00 3.02 9.16 12.22 12.11 74.36 83.38 61.07 10.80 3.60 300 6.55 21.31 8.87 0.59 5.87 3.63 2.66 2.58 10.10 12.68 12.39 67.56 106.75 63.91 10.93 3.85 *SW: Swine wastewater; CF: Chemical fertilization biodigestor, a sedimentation tank, and a stabilization pond. Chemical characterization of the SW was performed by the APHA, AWWA & WEF 10 method (Table 2). Swine wastewater was applied one single time, seven days after sowing (DAS) baby corn in soil with oat culture residues. Variety BR 106, which has a cycle of approximately 70 days, was sown by hand directly in a stand of 180,000 plants ha-1. Given the culture requirements of baby corn, which are based on the requirements of corn, nitrogen CF was performed with 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen in the form of urea 26. Fertilizer was applied in two dates, 30% as basal dressing and the rest during the culture cycle as top dressing. The edaphic fauna was sampled using pitfall traps placed in each experimental plot. Traps consisted of 6-cm diameter vials buried in the ground with the opening level at the soil surface. The vials had 200 mL of 4% formol solution as a preservative. Samples were collected at three moments during the experiment: 7 DAS, at the 15-leaf stage (41 DAS), and after ear budding (72 DAS). The traps stayed in the field for seven days before each sampling, and their contents were identified in laboratory at the Table 2. Chemical characterization of swine wastewater. Parameters Result pH (CaCl2) EC (dS m-1) Turbidity (NTU) BOD (mg L-1) COD (mg L-1) N total (mg L-1) N-NO3 (mg L-1) N-NO2 (mg L-1) P (mg L-1) K (mg L-1) Ca (mg L-1) Mg (mg L-1) Na (mg L-1) Fe (mg L-1) Mn (mg L-1) Cu (mg L-1) Zn (mg L-1) Total solids (mg L-1) Total fixed (mg L-1) Total volatile (mg L-1) 7.9 2.1 278 550 1450 338.8 0.40 8.00 211.9 440.0 2.25 0.95 17.0 75.0 16.5 12.5 76.5 1481.0 729.0 671.0 984 order level for the Collembola group, and at the family level for the Acarina order. The collected mites were prepared for identification by the Hoyer technique in the Biology Institute of São Paulo (ESALQ). The plates stayed in an oven at 60°C for 10 days before the mites were identified. The density of organisms, measured as the population size, was estimated by converting the number of individuals per trap/day. The data of each treatment were submitted to analysis of variance using a complete randomized experimental design with 2 x 4 factors (two levels of fertilization, 0 and 100%, and four doses of swine wastewater, 0, 150, 300 and 450 m3 ha-1, totaling eight treatments with three repetitions. When necessary, the data were normalized with equation x0.5+0.5 using the free software SISVAR, version 4.2 11 and the F test at 5%, followed by the Scott-Knott test at 5%. Results and Discussion Density of organism: The analysis of density of organisms reveals the occurrence of two main edaphic groups belonging to the mesofauna, Collembola and Acarina (Tables 3 and 4). Table 3 shows that the treatments had significant effects on the Collembola order at 41 and 72 DAS, while the Acarina order (Table 4) presented effects only at 41 DAS for CF. This table also shows that no organism of this order was observed at 72 DAS. After the analysis of variance (Table 3 and 4), the mean test was applied to the two edaphic groups, Collembola and Acarina (Table 5 and 6), respectively. No significant differences were observed between treatments for the density of organisms from Collembola order (Table 5) at seven DAS, probably because the time between the application of the treatments and sampling was short for their effects to manifest. On the other hand, at 41 and 72 DAS, the dose of 200 m3 ha-1 SW and the CF had positive and negative effects, Table 3. Summary of analysis of variance of F values for density of organisms from the Collembola order collected from soil as a function of the applied treatments at 7, 41 and 72 DAS. Variation source Degrees of freedom SW CF SW*CF ERROR TOTAL 3 1 3 16 23 SW CF SW*CF ERROR TOTAL 3 1 3 16 23 SW CF SW*CF ERROR TOTAL 3 1 3 16 23 Value of F p-value 0.606 0.572 1.34 0.6204 0.4604 0.2965 3.445 4.472 2.040 0.0410* 0.0498* 0.1487 4.639 4.646 2.653 0.0162* 0.0467* 0.0839 7 DAS 41 DAS 72 DAS DAS: Days after sowing Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.9 (3&4), July-October 2011 Table 4. Summary of analysis of variance of F values for density of organisms of the Collembola order, collected from soil as a function of the applied treatments at 7 and 41DAS. Variation source Degrees of Value of F freedom 7 DAS 3 0.809 1 0.024 3 1.764 16 23 41 DAS 3 0.672 1 5.319 3 0.491 16 23 SW CF SW*CF ERROR TOTAL SW CF SW*CF ERROR TOTAL p-value 0.5072 0.8796 0.1944 0.5815 0.0348* 0.0693 DAS – days after sowing. Table 5. Mean density of organism of the Collembola group (organisms/trap/day) collected from soil as a function of the applied treatments at 7, 41, and 72 DAS. DAS 7 41 72 0 12.69 A 4.30 A 3.73 A 7 41 72 0 10.91 A 12.13 A 7.57 A SW (m3 ha-1) 100 200 12.95 A 11.80 A 2.57 A 20.83 B 2.26 A 12.14 B CF (%) 100 12.39 A 2.95 B 2.79 B 300 9.16 A 2.45 A 2.59 A Equal letters in the same line do not differ by the Scott-Knott test at 5% significance level. Table 6. Mean density of organisms of the Acarina group (organisms/trap/day) collected from soil as a function of the applied treatments at 7, 41, and 72 DAS. DAS 7 41 0 0.26 A 0.19 A 7 41 0 0.52 A 0.31 A SW (m3 ha-1) 100 200 0.38 A 0.76 A 0.23 A 0.27 A CF (%) 100 0.44 A 0.07 B 300 0.52 A 0.07 A Equal letters in the same line do not differ by the Scott-Knott test at 5% significance level. respectively, on the Collembola order. Similar results were reported for the use of wastewater from a manure primary treatment tank 2 in soil cultivated with oats, followed by corn, for six consecutive years. The author proposed that the application of 200 m3 ha-1 to soil with vegetable cover may indicate a good condition for the development of the Collembola group. Therefore, one can suggest that the application of moderate doses of SW and a good vegetable cover act simultaneously in the development and survival of Collembola. This does not happen with doses of 100 and 300 m3 ha-1, as shown in Table 6. The ideal condition is not reached in these treatments, as although the dose of 100 m3 ha-1 SW is low, the vegetable cover does not develop as much as with application of 300 m3 ha-1, which is too high for the survival of these organisms. Antoniolli et al. 3 also observed that the use of a dose of 80 m3 ha-1 SW was more favorable to Collembola density when compared with untreated plots. Therefore, the results indicate that this type of wastewater can exert positive effects on this group, affording edaphic conditions, which normally do not occur without its application, as long as the application limits are obeyed. Furthermore, the proper handling of waste in soil not only favors a greater density of organisms, due to the food availability associated with the good edaphoclimatic conditions, but also indirectly influences other groups, such as Araneae and Coleoptera, which feed on other organisms, including Collembola, thus contributing to increasing the local biodiversity 15. The origin and chemical composition of the waste applied to culture soil determine the edaphic responses to the treatment. Mello 16 found no significant difference in Collembola for doses of sewage sludge from two treatment stations applied to corn culture, despite the reduction in the number of sampled individuals during the culture. In contrast, Pimentel and Warneke 17 used sludge from liquid sewage in a forest area and observed a reduction in the number of arthropods in soil of about 75% in comparison with the control. The springtail population was the most affected. In a similar study, Bruce et al. 6 demonstrated that sludge contaminated with heavy metals does not influence the total abundance of the Collembola order, but has both positive and negative effects at the species level due to the distinct behaviors of some species in relation to some elements. The use of SW was also found to lead to an increase in Collembola density up to the dose of 200 m3 ha-1, with lower densities being reported for 300 m3 ha-1. This response to SW is possibly explained by the improvement of soil edaphic conditions, such as organic matter, vegetable cover and moisture 18-27, induced by SW use, which favors the growth and fixation of Collembola. As to the effect of CF on the Collembola order (Table 6), no significant differences were observed at seven DAS, although this was slightly greater in the plots treated with CF. According to Rovedder et al. 19, this initial behaviour is due to the larger amount of dry mass remaining from the oat culture in chemically fertilized plots, as the low moisture resulting from soil exposure due to the lack of cover influences the density of these organisms. In contrast to this initial trend, at 41 and 72 DAS, significant negative effects were observed for the Collembola group, which presented lower means. These results are similar to those reported by Alves 2, in which after eight months of mineral fertilizer application, the density of these organisms decreased, in comparison with the control, suggesting a late effect of chemical fertilization. The Acarina group was not significantly affected by the SW treatment in any of the evaluated periods (Table 6). However, the distribution of this group increased in all periods with the increase in the dose up to 200 m3 ha-1, suggesting that this type of waste may have limited benefits, depending on the dose applied. This result contrasts with that reported by Antoniolli et al. 3 who observed that the application of raw SW in low doses (80 m3 ha-1) had a limiting effect on the mite fauna, when compared with the control treatment. This probably results from the distinct chemical characteristics of the waste, which was applied in its raw form. The density of these two groups decreased during sampling, and this group finally disappeared in the third sampling. As this behaviour was observed for all treatments, it is probable that it is due to the long period of dry weather that coincided with the third Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.9 (3&4), July-October 2011 985 sampling, associated with the applied treatments. As Table 8. Mean density of organisms of the Mesostigmata, Prostigmata, for the Collembola order, low soil moisture and high and Oribatida families (organisms/trap/day) collected from soil as temperature are limiting factors. a function of the applied treatments at 7 and 41 DAS. As to the CF, it had significant negative effects on Treatment the group at 41 DAS. The greatest means were observed CF SW in the untreated plot, which demonstrates the limiting Oeder 0 100 0 100 200 300 effect of CF on the mite fauna. We believe that it is 7 DAS associated with the reduction of the osmosis potential Mesostigmata 0.23 A 0.22 A 0.04 A 0.14 A 038 A 0.35 A of the chemically fertilized soil, which favours the loss Prostigmata 0.08 A 0.00 A 0.00 A 0.00 A 0.09 A 0.07 A Oribatida 0.04 A 0.00 A 0.00 A 0.00 A 0.09 A 0.00 A of part of the body water to the soil and causes mite death due to their dependence on water. Mesostigmata 0.21 A 0.05 A 0.11 A 0.14 A 0.19 A 0.09 A Considering the diversity of the organisms of the Prostigmata 0.04 A 0.03 A 0.04 A 0.04 A 0.04 A 0.02 A Acarina order and their individual capacity to respond Equal capital letters in the same line do not differ by the Scott-Knott test at 5% significance level. to alterations in their environment. Tables 7 and 8 summarize the analysis of variance and mean test results according to the mite classification at the family taxonomic level. for the two factors, when compared with the other families, Table 7 shows that the treatments had no significant effect on the suggesting that the Prostigmata and Oribatida suborders are more investigated mite families during the study period. Table 8 shows sensitive to these variables. Oribatida proved to be more sensitive the tendencies as a function of the treatments. to the evaluated factors, as it was found only in the first sampling. One can see in Table 8 that specimens from the three mite families According to Uhlig 25, the interaction of Oribatei mites with abiotic commonly found in soil were collected. Despite the lack of statistical environmental factors and their sensitivity to physical and difference, all families had better distribution for 200 m3 ha-1 SW chemical conditions of the soil are well known. The populations and without CF. Mesostigmata predominated among the families of these mites frequently indicate specific microclimatic conditions, found in all the treatments investigated, with the largest means lending them the status of environmental bioindicators. Furthermore, they present a positive correlation for population and the organic matter content in soil, being acknowledged as Table 7. Summary of analysis of variance of F values for indicators of the carbon content of ecosystems. density of organisms of the Mesostigmata, However, despite their positive answer to the soil organic matter Prostigmata, and Oribatida families, collected from content, this was not observed in this study (Table 1), which soil as a function of the applied treatments at 7 leads us to infer that the application of SW and CF reduced the and 41 DAS. osmotic potential of the soil, leading to the loss of body water to Variation Degrees of Value of F p-value the environment and consequently their death. source freedom In general terms, all the treatments led to reduced mite density, Mesostigmata 7 DAS which may have resulted from the history of treatment of the area, SW 3 1.099 0.3782 as well as the group habits. Vitti et al. 27 point out that mites are CF 1 0.034 0.8554 selective in terms of their feeding place and it generally takes SW*CF 3 0.501 0.6866 place under the soil surface. Thus, the sampling method used ERROR 16 TOTAL 23 may have been a determining factor of the results, as it favored 41 DAS the collection of active organisms on the soil surface. Huber 13 SW 3 0.131 0.9402 emphasizes that springtails and mites belong to the mesofauna CF 1 1.935 0.1833 and basically have the same needs and limitations, including their SW*CF 3 0.386 0.7645 dependence on moisture. However, each group uses distinct soil ERROR 16 TOTAL 23 compartments for feeding. Springtails feed on the surface of Prostigmata organic residues and they usually are more numerous in the litter 7 DAS than mites. SW 3 1.110 0.3741 CF SW*CF ERROR TOTAL 1 3 16 23 SW CF SW*CF ERROR TOTAL 3 1 3 16 23 3.176 1.110 0.0937 0.3741 0.110 0.093 0.681 0.9534 0.7643 0.5763 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.4182 0.3322 0.4182 41 DAS Conclusions The density of the Collembola order increased with the application of swine wastewater up to the dose of 200 m3 ha-1. 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