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Impact of two root systems, earthworms and mycorrhizae on the physical properties of an unstable silt loam Luvisol and plant production

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Abstract

Background and aims

Soil organisms are known to engineer the soil physical properties, but their impact is difficult to assess and poorly documented. Shrinkage analysis has a good potential for such assessment. This study analyses the effects of mycorrhizae (Glomus intraradices), earthworms (Allolobophora chlorotica) and two plants, Allium porrum (leek) and Petunia hybrida (petunia), on the physical properties of an unstable loamy Luvisol, as well as the biological interactions between the soil organisms.

Methods

In addition to soil organism biomass, shrinkage analysis and soil aggregate stability analysis were used to characterize the soil physical properties.

Results

The soil aggregate stability, specific volume and structural pores volumes were increased with plant roots compared to control. The drilling effect of roots could not explain the pore volume increase, which was several orders of magnitude larger than the volume of the roots. Leek had larger impact on volumes while petunia mostly increased soil aggregate stability. Mycorrhizae increased the soil stability and the soil volume. Earthworms alone decreased the pore volumes at any pore size, and plant roots mitigated this.

Conclusions

Our results highlight (1) the large impact of soil biota on soil physical properties, (2) that their separated effects can either combine or mitigate each other and (3) that the observed changes are varying in intensity according to soil type and plant type.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Plant Survival, a research programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation. The authors are very grateful to Lidia Mathys-Paganuzzi and Marie-Laure Heusler for their excellent technical assistance in the laboratory, to Frederic for supervision of the experimental setup and to François Fullemann for technical assistance during the greenhouse experiment. We are also very grateful to the person responsible for the INRA long-term experiment of La Cage at Versailles, for allowing us to sample the soil, and to Prof. Didier Reinhardt for the Petunia seeds. We finally thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory Soil and Vegetation, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Emile-Argand 11, CP 158, 2009, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Roxane Kohler-Milleret, Renée-Claire Le Bayon & Jean-Michel Gobat

  2. UMR 7618 CNRS Bioemco, Bâtiment EGER, AgroParisTech, 78850, Thiverval Grignon, France

    Claire Chenu

  3. Soils and Substrates, University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HES-SO), hepia, 150, route de Pressinge, 1254, Jussy, Geneva, Switzerland

    Pascal Boivin

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  1. Roxane Kohler-Milleret
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  2. Renée-Claire Le Bayon
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  3. Claire Chenu
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  4. Jean-Michel Gobat
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  5. Pascal Boivin
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Correspondence to Roxane Kohler-Milleret.

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Responsible Editor: Nico Eisenhauer.

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Kohler-Milleret, R., Le Bayon, RC., Chenu, C. et al. Impact of two root systems, earthworms and mycorrhizae on the physical properties of an unstable silt loam Luvisol and plant production. Plant Soil 370, 251–265 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1621-4

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