ABSTRACT
The use of soil fauna as bioindicator of anthropogenic and environmental changes has been growing in recent years. However, there are still few long-term studies relating these organisms to application of organic wastes to the soil. This study aimed at evaluating the effects of swine wastewater (SW) application with or without mineral fertilization on soil meso and macrofauna within two cycles of maize harvest. We used four doses of SW (0, 100, 200, 300 m3ha-1), which was treated in an anaerobic digester in the first year and raw waste thereafter. We performed 24 experimental plots, among which, 12 underwent mineral fertilization. Pitfall traps were set up in each plot to sample soil fauna. Data were analyzed by multivariate techniques as NMS and PERMANOVA. We concluded that SW application, both treated and raw, had no influence on soil fauna, even if mineral fertilizer was or not used. Chemical soil parameters had affected soil meso- and macro-fauna only as years pass.
soil fauna; wastewater recycling; swine wastewater
