Effect of Agricultural Practices on the Population of Collembola

Collembolans play an important role in the formation of microstructure and maintaining the agricultural ecosystem which is enriched by plant litter decomposition. Collembolans are also host of many parasitic Protozoans, Nematodes and pathogenic bacteria. Soil organisms are subjected to a variety of edaphic factors in the soil such as soil moisture, temperature, pH, amount of organic carbon and nitrogen content of the soil which have a direct or indirect effect on the population dynamics of soil microarthropods. The population density of these soil microarthropods may have an effect on our agricultural produce because they are the vital source of maintaining soil health. An agro ecosystem is a regularly disturbed in the context of the above and below ground species population as well as biomass removal, nutrient input and use of pesticides and herbicides (Neher, 1999). Field management practices aim at maximizing the biomass output while minimizing the input cost. Management system implies alterations on abundance of arthropod population and natural enemies present in the crop. The harvested crop removes nutrients from the fields each time. Repeated harvesting of the crop makes the soil even poorer in nutrients and organic matter content. The loss in soil organic matter content adversely affects the soil biodiversity (Adl and Coleman, 2005) in general and Collembola in particular.