Studies on Microbial Population Density and Soil Respiration in Cropland Soil and Middens of Earthworm Linnogaster pusillus, Stephenson

The present paper dealt with the relationship of the microbial population and the CO evolution in 2 soil and midden of earthworm Linnogaster pusillus, Stephenson. A trend of decrease in bacterial population and CO evolution was recorded up to 42 days of observation in both the samples. The initial bacterial 2 population (number/g soil) was found to be 36.3±1.504 X10 and 51.1±1.350 X10 in soil and midden respectively 99 and thereafter a declining pattern was noticed. Maximum value of CO evolution (mg CO /kg soil/h) was 22 6.23± 0.98 and 8.20±1.72 observed in soil and midden respectively. A positive significant correlation was observed between the two in both soil and midden of earthworms with r =0.9524 (p 0.001) and 0.9856 (p 0.01) 2 respectively. The CO release and bacterial population was comparatively higher in midden of earthworm than 2