A comparison of tillage, direct drilling and lime on springtail communities in a long-term field trial in poland

In 2009 and 2010, we examined the effects of different tillage systems on springtail communities. The study was established on the experimental field, in which tillage and no-tillage cultivation had been conducted since 1975, of the Research Station of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences’ Department of Agronomy, located at Chylice, near Warsaw (52 0 05’N, 20 0 33’E).The treatments considered were conventional tillage with a mouldboard plough (CT) and no-tillage (NT), and each method was divided between with and without liming. In 2009, the fields were sown with winter wheat, and spring barley was planted the following year. During both growing seasons, collembolan densities were higher under NT than CT, but the reverse was true after harvest. However, the time of the season had a significant effect on collembolan densities not only over the whole study period but also in particular years. Additionally, in fields that were limed, collembolan densities varied, with no clear trend. The dominant collembolan species in the CT and NT fields was Isotoma viridis Bourlet, 1839, while Paristoma notabilis (Schaffer, 1896) was prevalent when liming was used. The relative proportion of each of the two species in springtail communities was at least 20 percent. The species diversity of collembolan communities was similar in both study years, and it was higher in CT than in NT fields.The study was financially supported as part of the MNiSW project No. N N305171136.