Earthworm population under different soil tillage and herbicide application at integrated field laboratory agriculture faculty, University of Lampung

Abstract

This study were aimed to determine the effect of soil tillage and herbicide on earthworm populations. The experiment was designed by using completely randomize block design with two factors, i.e.; soil tillage systems consists of full tillage (T 1 ) and minimum tillage (T 0 ) and herbicide application (H) consists of herbicide (H 1 ) and non-herbicide (H 0 ). Herbicides with isopropylamine glyphosate + 2.4D active ingredient was application as treatment at level dosage 160 mL per 16 L of water. Soil sampling by using monolith and earthworm were collect by hand sorting methods. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and LSD test. The results showed that the soil tillage has no effect on the population and biomass of earthworms, but application of herbicide affected on earthworm population at one day after herbicide application. Earthworm population were higher in plot with no herbicide application (86 ind•m -2 ) than that plot with herbicide application (33 ind•m -2 ). However, at all combination treatment, earthworm population were increase followed by cassava growth. Population and biomass of earthworms found to be higher in the soil layer 0-10 cm than that 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm soil layers. Furthermore, soil water content had correlation with earthworm population.