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Bioscience received 30 soil samples for microbiological analysis on the 15th of January 2018. The samples were part of a trial that investigated the effect of dung and dung beetle activity on soil microbiology on eight different properties.
The main findings were:
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Dung addition increased diversity of archaea and fast-growing bacteria and fungi but supressed slow-growing Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria.
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Dung beetle activity mitigated the deleterious effects of dung on slow-growing microorganisms which resulted in treatment A exhibiting the highest microbial diversity.
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Place of origin (i.e. where samples were collected) had a bigger effect on the microbial community structure for bacteria and fungi than treatments. In contrast, the archaeal community was significantly influenced by dung-only addition
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Bioscience received 30 soil samples (0-10 cm) from Kathy Dawson (Warren Catchments Council) on the 15th of January 2018. The samples originated from eight properties on which trials with dung beetles were conducted. The dung beetle Bubas bison (Linnaeus, 1767) used in the trials is an opportunistic night-flier that utilises the whole dung pad and actively buries dung in tunnels up to 50 cm deep (Kirk, 1983; http://www.dungbeetlesolutions.com.au/about-dungbeetles/). The effect of dung beetle and dung application (treatment A) on soil microbial diversity was compared to a dung-only application (treatment B) and an unamended control (treatment C). Additionally, samples from treatment P were collected from pastures into which dung beetles were released
EFFECT ON SOIL FERTILITY EXPERIEMENT
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