Any suggestions are welcome for planning a pilot plot project to test the soil treatment recipes by studying soil microarthropods as biological indicator of soil quality.
Interesting question. I believe that most farmers have a clear understanding that earthworms can be related to soil structure tilth and the productivity of soils To convince farmers of the visible effect is therefore easier to do with earthworm analysis I think.
In relation to microantropods we are looking as something less obvious but I would think that if the microantropods can be well correlated to known earthwrom effects that might be a way of convincing farmers it is validity in practical terms.
So the bottom line is there validity of using microantropods as proxy for earthworms or other visible soil influences or conditions.
People generally can believe what they can see visibly more than the more unseen worlds.
Some thoughts. Also concentrate on the mechanism of how the microantrhpods exactly due their work.
Dear @Paul Reed Hepperly many thanks for your comprehensible and precise answer. Concerning the interesting point you mentioned in your answer, I want you to pay attention to a paper attached here and I think this paper can be used as a reference one, which is investigating the earthworm-collembola interaction affecting composting processes. I would be happy to know your opinion in this case.
Can't it be something which a farmer can easily have some insight about soil quality. For example , take soil and add some water , the amount of froathing or efferevescence would reveal dehydrogense activity as a rough estimate. We need to bring such interventions rather than strictly lab oriented analysis. Paul has given good account in this direction.
Thank you @Anoop Kumar Srivastava for sharing your opinion in this discussion. I would be grateful if you could recommend an article, which can be used as a reference paper of my work.
Dear researchers, following the answer of @Paul Reed Hepperly, I would like to pay your attention to the publication attached regarding the interactions between earthworms and collembola affecting composting processes and I want to know anybody,s opinion if I can use this as a reference article for my plan, which is mentioned in the question.
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