The trophic diversity of nematode communities in soils treated with vermicompost

The effects of vermicomposts on plant parasitic, fungivorous and baterivorous nematode populations were investigated in grape (Vitis vinifera) and strawberry (Fragaria ananasa) field crops. Commercially-produced vermicomposts derived from recycled paper, and supermarket food waste were applied to replicated plots at the rates of 2.5 t ha(-1) or 5.0 t ha(-1) for the grape crop and 5.0 t ha(-1) or 10 t ha(-1) for the strawberry crops. All vermicompost treatments were supplemented with inorganic fertilizer to balance the initial availability of macionutrients especially N, to the crop in all plots. After extraction from soil samples in Baermann funnels, nematodes were identified to trophic levels under a stereomicroscope. Soils from all of the vermicompost-treated plots contained smaller populations of plant parasitic nematodes than soil from inorganic fertilizer-treated plots. Conversely, populations of fungivorous nematodes and to lesser extent bacterivorous nematodes increased in the vermicompost-treated plots in comparison with those in plots treated with inorganic fertilizers.