The Influence of Arthropods and Earthworms upon Root Growth of Direct Drilled Cereals

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Abstract
Intact profiles of soil from a field that had been direct drilled for 5 yr and from the same soil that had been regularly plowed were sterilized with dichloropropane-dichloropropene (D-D). After aeration, profiles from the direct drilled soil were inoculated with either Lumbricus terrestris, Allolobophora longa, a mixture of A. caliginosa and A. chlorotica, or a mixture of soil arthropods, in numbers similar to average populations. Two sterilized profiles from direct drilled soil and 2 from plowed soil were left without animals. Barley seeds were sown in slits to simulate direct drilling. The numbers of seedlings emerging, heights of plants and oven-dry weights of roots were all greater in the profiles from plowed soil, and in those from direct drilled soil inoculated with animals, than in those with no animals. Root distributions were closely correlated with the characteristic zones of activity of the animals.

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