JOURNAL of Soil Biology and Ecology

Abundance and diversity of soil acari in perennial horticultural cropping ecosystems

Authors: NGUYEN THI KIM THOA, N. G. KUMAR AND K.V.PRAKASH

Abstract:

Soil biota is an important biotic component of the soil ecosystem, representing a picture of ecological change all the time and the necessity for competence in species determination of very diverse soil fauna such as Collembola and Acari. An investigation on the abundance of soil acari in horticultural ecosystems was carried out at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra (GKVK), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, at the end of the rainy season. The results indicated that significantly higher total faunal abundance was recorded in the grape litter (632.33 total fauna/100 g litter) compared to the other treatments except for grape soil (499.33/400 g soil). It was followed by guava litter (81.67) which was on par with mango litter (30.33), mango soil (30.00) and guava soil (20.33). The relative abundance of cryptostigmatid was more in guava soil (42.65 %), followed by mango soil (25.56 %), grape soil (15.55 %), grape (12.97 %) and guava litters (11.03 %). The activity was not observed in mango litter. Mesostigmatid was higher in mango litter (31.88 %) and less in grape soil (1.41 %). Other Acari was more in the grape litter (10.12 %) and least in grape soil (2.67 %). The activity was not present in mango and guava ecosystems. A higher relative abundance of other invertebrates was noticed in grape soil (80.37 %), followed by grape litter (73.96 %), guava litter (72.64%), mango litter (68.15%), mango soil (67.78 %) and guava soil (36.06 %). Higher diversity of mesofauna was recorded in guava litter, followed by mango litter, guava soil, mango soil, grape litter and grape soil.

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