Do Long-Term Continuous Cropping and Pesticides Affect Earthworm Communities?

Summary

This long-term field experiment (52 years) examined how continuous cropping and pesticide application affect earthworm communities in spring barley and faba bean fields in north-eastern Poland. Whilst earthworm populations showed no response to cropping system or pesticide treatment in barley, faba bean fields demonstrated increased earthworm density and biomass under continuous cropping compared with crop rotation, and decreased density and biomass with herbicide and fungicide application. The study found a positive correlation between earthworm density and biomass with soil organic matter content, suggesting that soil carbon availability is an important driver of earthworm community abundance.

UK applicability

The findings are directly relevant to UK arable farming, particularly for cereal and legume production systems. However, UK soils and climates differ from north-eastern Poland; the absence of treatment effects in barley suggests crop-specific responses warrant investigation under UK conditions, particularly in rotation-based systems which are increasingly common in UK organic and regenerative farming.

Key measures

Earthworm species identity, density (individuals per unit area), biomass (g per unit area), soil organic matter content (%), post-harvest residue biomass, soil pH

Outcomes reported

The study measured earthworm species composition, density, and biomass in spring barley and faba bean fields under continuous cropping versus crop rotation, with and without herbicide and fungicide application, over a 52-year period. Soil organic matter, post-harvest residue biomass, and soil pH were also recorded.

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