Macrofauna evaluation in two coffee agroforestry systems

Abstract

Knowing the soil macrofauna and its distribution is important to predict the degradation state of a soil as well as its physical properties and biological components. This research was carried out in coffee ecotopes 220A and 221A in southern Colombia. Two systems were evaluated, Coffea arabica var Castillo and native forest coffee, during two different seasons, winter and summer. Sampling was carried out using the tropical soil biology and fertility program (TSBF) methodology. The statistical treatment was carried out by means of a non-parametric analysis of variance Kruskal-Wall test. The density of orders present per square meter was evaluated, demonstrating that the highest density occurred in the winter season in the ecotope 220A and 221A forest system, with averages of 9.33 orders/ m2 and 9.67 orders/ m2, respectively. The highest number of density of individuals was obtained in winter, in the forest system and coffee in the 220A and 221A ecotopes with averages ranging between 1808 individuals/ m2 and 1368 individuals/ m2, statistically exceeding the number of individuals/ m2 that appeared in summer season. For biomass, the highest contribution was obtained in the winter season, with averages of 186.5 grams/ m2 in the 220A ecotope and 205.74 grams/ m2 for the 221A ecotope, exceeding the biomass that was presented in coffee winter season time, both in the 220A and 221A ecotopes.