Macrofauna edaphicum in forage palm cultivation in the dry and rainy season in Seridó Potiguar

Abstract

The soil macrofauna constitutesaneffective tool of bioindication of edaphicquality in cultivatedareas,including forage spineless cacti, which by its adaptability characterizes itself as biological elementcompatible with semi-arid conditions.In this context, the objective was to characterize the edaphic macrofauna incultivation of NopaleacocholeniferaSalmDyck at different periods in region from SeridóPotiguar.The research was conductedin EMPARN, municipality of Cruzeta,Rio Grande do NorteState, Brazil,during the December/2016 to January/2017 (dry period) and from March to April/2017 (rainy period).The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with five replicates.Traps of the Provid type were used,where they were randomly buried in the areaso that the openings were at the level of the soil surfacefor a period of four weeks. The collections were carried out weekly in five points of the area for each season.After quantification of the individuals, we calculated the wealth (number of groups identified),the frequency, abundance, dominance and constancy indexes, obtained through software ANAFAUand also the diversity indexes of Shannon (H) and uniformity of Pielou (e). In the sum of the collections, 4,160 individuals were identified during the dry season, distributed in ten ordersand in rainy season 1,779 were obtained, belonging to fifteen orders.It was verified that the macrofauna in the cultivation of forage spineless cacti is more abundantin the dry season, however it is more diverse in the rainy season.