Introduction of amoebae and Rhizobium japonicum into the gut of Eisenia fetida (Sav.) and Lumbricus terrestris L.

Abstract

Earthworms consume large quantities of soil and in so doing disperse micro-organisms that can survive passage through the gut. Several pathogens have been shown to be eliminated in the gut while others, including Bacillus anthracis (Pasteur, 1880), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Lortet and Despeignes, 1892a, b), Fusarium (Taylor, 1917; Rathburn, 1918), Plasmodiophora brassicae (Gleisberg, 1922) and Vibrio (Marialigeti, 1979), have been thought to be spread by worms. Amongst non-pathogens, Serratia marcescens (Day, 1950) and some algae (Atlavinyte and Pociene, 1973; Nekrasova et al., 1976), are destroyed in the gut, and nitrogen-fixers have been shown to be lysed by a mycoplasma-like gut organism (Lepidi and Nuti, 1975). Hutchinson and Kamel (1956) showed that fungi were spread rapidly by worms in experimental containers and this has been confirmed for phycomycetes by Thornton (1970). In natural conditions, however, fungi, especially phycomycetes, were found by Kamal and Singh (1970) to be less abundant in casts than in neighbouring soil.