Edaphic fauna under continuous application of carnauba bagana in a Plinthosol

Abstract

The bagana de carnauba is the agroindustrial waste generated after the extraction of the wax from the leaves of the carnaúba [Copernicia prunifera (Miller). H. E. Moore] and is widely used as organic fertilizer. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the density, diversity and composition of soil invertebrates as a function of continuous applications of carnauba bagana in a Plintosol. The study was conducted in the dry season of 2018 and in the rainy season of 2019 on two sites fertilized with carnauba bagana for 40 and 5 years with intercropped maize and beans, a site with Fallow land, in addition to a site with Caatinga transitional forest/Cerrado deciduous used as a reference. Soil fauna was collected using pitfall traps placed in the central part of each area, where they remained for seven days. Only in the dry period the Native Forest presented a significantly higher value of average richness. Sites fertilized with carnauba bagana showed a greater number of individuals with 5-years CB showing lower values of the epigean community diversity index. The dominant groups were Aranae, Collembola, Coleoptera, Diptera, Formicidae and Coleoptera larvae in the period of higher humidity and low temperature, with a reduction of Diptera and Coleoptera larvae in the dry season. Sites with carnauba bagana applied to the soil surface about 40 years ago and native forest were associated with several taxonomic groups in the rainy season.