Combined application of animal manure and straw benefit soil fauna community in dryland farming

Abstract. Addition of organic wastes such as animal manures and straw is a feasible practice to alleviate soil degradation, and the mitigation is closely related to the activities of soil-dwelling fauna. In this study, the community structure of soil fauna were compared under four treatment regimes: straw only, and straw combined with the use of chicken manure, ox manure and pig manure. A total of 12459 soil fauna were captured, belonging to 23 groups. Treatments animal manure combined with straw led to increased the number of soil fauna groups and individuals, diversity index, richness index and dominance index, while reduced the evenness index of soil fauna. Compared to the other treatments, maize straw plus chicken manure and maize straw plus pig manure treatments had the largest number of soil fauna groups. Among all the treatments, Oribatida, Astigmata, Desoria and Folsomia were the dominant species, accounting for 69.94 % of the total number of individuals. Maize straw plus pig manure treatment had the largest diversity index soil fauna community. The richness index of soil fauna community in maize straw plus chicken manure and maize straw plus pig manure treatments were higher compared to other treatments. The highest dominance index of soil fauna was recorded in maize straw plus ox manure treatment. In conclusion, our findings suggested that animal manure combined with straw, especially the application of maize straw plus pig manure was the most effective treatment for enhancing soil fauna community.