Role of Earthworms in Soil Fertility Maintenance through the Production of Biogenic Structures

Table 3

Variation in nutrient concentration of earthworm casts and noningested soils during cropping under shifting agriculture in North East India (±SE, 𝑛=5) [18].

	5-year-cycle		15-year-cycle
	Soil	Worm cast	Soil	Worm cast
Organic Carbon (%)	2 (±0.1)	*2.5 (±.13)	3.2 (±.17)	^**4.5 (±.23)
Total Nitrogen (%)	0.22 (±0.01)	*0.29 (±.17)	0.4 (±.03)	*0.6 (±.04)
Available Phosphorus (mg/100 g)	0.9 (±0.03)	*1.4 (±.09)	2.0 (±.06)	^**2.8 (±.15)
Potassium (meq/100 g)	0.5 (±0.02)	0.54 (±.04)	1.2 (±.05)	*2.0 (±.09)
Calcium (meq/100 g)	0.9 (±0.01)	*1.2 (±.08)	1.5 (±.04)	^**2.5 (±.13)
Magnesium (meq/100 g)	1.2 (±0.05)	*1.8 (±.09)	3.1 (±.17)	*4.0 (±.34)

* 𝑃<.05, ^**𝑃<.01.