The effects of exposure time on the growth of earthworm Eisenia fetida feded by livestock manure in contaminated soil

Document Type : Complete scientific research article

Authors

1 Soil Science Department, College of Agriculture, Bou-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

2 Soil science department, College of agriculture, Bo-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

Abstract

Abstract
Background and Objectives: Soil pollution by heavy metals in the world, especially in countries that require soil to produce food, has become a serious concern. In the context of environmental risk assessment, earthworms are an important component of soil, and ecologically considered as a biochemical indicator (bio Index) for soil health and quality. Earthworms are part of the food chain and the soil decomposition cycle, that growth characteristics are negatively affected by soil contamination. Due to the sensitivity of dirt worms to soil contamination, they can be used as an indicator of contaminated soils. This study was therefore carried out in order to investigate the effect of contact time and soil sampling points on the growth traits of earthworms in contaminated soils.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on a contaminated soil that was sampled from the Ahangaran mine and its surrounding land, located at the 26 kilometer far from Malayer to Arak, in the Hamedan province, which lies between longitudes and latitudes 44° 59´ 44´´ and 34° 10´ 20´´ respectively. A factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. Animal fertilizers were used as nutrition for soil worms. In this experiment, 12 earthworms with an average weight of 0.3-0.6 mg were selected for each soil sample and during the experiment, no food was added to the dishes. Then, the worms were exposed to soil contamination in seven different time intervals of 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 32 and 42 days. The viability, weight, cocoon production and reproduction by hand counting in unit weight of the substrate were investigated.
Results: The results of analysis of variance showed that lead and cadmium contaminated soils can somewhat affect growth parameters of Eisenia fetida. Despite the high concentrations of lead and cadmium in point S3, the highest percentage of survival, number of coccons and larvae (reproduction) of earthworms was observed, which could be due to the high resistance of earthworms to the toxic effects of cadmium and lead due to poison detoxification by metallothionein proteins in dorsal canals.
Conclusion: Usually, the worse the earthworms had in contact with this element longer, the more severe the decline in population, weight and cocoon production. But when earthworms were fed to heavy metals such as lead and cadmium with animal fertilizer, population decline, weight and number of produced cocoons were less than that, increasing the number of cocoons and reproduction in the end of the trial period.

Keywords


1.Allen, H.E. 1997. Standards for metal should not be based on total concentrations. SETAC-Europe news, 8: 7-9.
2.Arnold, R., and Hodson, M. 2007. Effect of time and mode of depuration on tissue copper concentrations of the earthworms Eisenia andrei, Lumbricus rubellus and Lumbricus terrestris. Environmental Pollution. 148: 21-30.
3.Asensio, V., Rodrı´guez-Ruiz, A., Garmendia, L., Andre, J., Kille, P., Morgan, A.J. et al. 2013 Towards an integrative soil health assessment strategy: a three tier (integrative biomarker response) approach with Eisenia foetida applied to soils subjected to chronic metal pollution. Science of The Total Environ. 442: 344-365.
4.Bauycos, G.J. 1962. Hydrometer methods improved for making particle size of soils. Agron. J. 56: 464-465.
5.Duarte, A.P., Melo, V.F., Brown, G.G., and Pauletti, V. 2012. Changes in the forms of lead and manganese in soils by passage through the gut of the tropical endogeic earthworm (Pontoscolex corethrurus). Eur. J. Soil Biol. 53: 32-39.
6.Edwards, C.A., and Bohlen P.J. 1996. Biology and Ecology of Earthworms. 3rd. Chapman & Hall, London. 7- EPA. 1996. Ecological Effects Test Guide lines. Earthworm subchronic toxicity test. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
7.EPA. 1996. Ecological Effects Test Guide lines. Earthworm subchronic toxicity test. United States Environmental Protection Agency.
8.Haghparast, R.J., Golchin, A., and Kohne, A. 2013. Study of the effect of different cadmium concentrations on the growth of earthworm of the Eisenia foetida species in a calcareous soil. J. Water Soil. 27: 1. 24-35. (In Persian)
9.Helling, B., Reinecke, S.A., and Reinecke, A.J. 2000. Effects of fungicide copper oxychloride on the growth
and reproduction of Eisenia foetida (Oligochaeta). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 46: 108-116.
10.Hinton, J., and Veiga, M.M. 2008. The influence of organic acids on mercury bioavailability: insight from an earthworm assessment protocol. Environ Bioindic 3: 47-67.
11.Homa, J., Niklinska, M., and Plytycz, B. 2003. Effect of heavy metals on coelomocytes of the earthworm Allolobophora chlorotica. Pedobiologia, 47: 640-645.
12.Hopkin, S.P. 1989. Ecophysiology of metals in invertebrates. Elsevier Applied Science, London.
13.Jamshidi, Z, and Golchin A. 2013. The effect of different levels of chromium and exposure time on growth parameters of earthworms. KAUMS J. (FEYZ). 16: 7. 625-26.
14.Lee, S.W., Lee, B.T., Kim, J.-Y., Kim, K.-W., and Lee, J.-S. 2006. Human risk assessment for heavy metals and as contamination in the abandoned metal mine areas, Korea. Environmental monitoring and assessment 119: 233-244.
15.Li, Z., Ma, Z., van der Kuijp, T.J., Yuan, Z., and Huang, L. 2014. A review of soil heavy metal pollution from mines in China: pollution and health risk assessment. Science of the total environment, 468: 843-853.
16.Li, L., Xu, Z., Wu, J., and Tian, G. 2010. Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the earthworm Eisenia foetida in relation to bioavailable metal concentrations in pig manure. Bioresource Technology. 101: 10. 3430-36.
17.Morgan, A.J., and Morris B. 1982. The accumulation and intracellular compartementation of cadmium, lead, zinc and calcium in two earthworm species (Dendrobaena rubida and Lumbricus rubellus) living in highly contaminated soil. Histochemistry, 75: 269-285.
18.Morgan, J.E., and Morgan A.J. 1993. Seasonal changes in the tissue metal (Cd, Zn and Pb) concentrations
in two ecophysiologically dissimilar earthworm species- pollution monitoring implications. Environmental Pollution, 82: 1-7.
19.Nahmani, J., Hodson, M.E., Devin, S., and Vijver, M.G. 2009. Uptake kinetics of metals by the earthworm Eisenia foetida exposed to field-contaminated soils. Environmental Pollution. 157: 10. 2622-28.
20.Nahmani, J., Hodson, M.E., and Black, S. 2007. Effects of metals on life cycle parameters of the earthworm Eisenia foetida exposed to field-contaminated, metal-polluted soils. Environmental Pollution, 149: 44-48.
21.Nannoni, F., Protano, G., and Riccobono, F. 2011. Fractionation and geochemical mobility of heavy elements in soils of a mining area in northern Kosovo. Geoderma. 161: 63-73.
22.OECD. 1984. Guideline for the testing of chemicals no. 207. Earthworm, acute toxicity tests. OECD-guideline for testing chemicals. Paris, France.
23.Prinsloo, M.W., Reinecke, S.A., Przybylowicz, W.J., Mesjasz-Przybylowicz, J., and Reinecke A.J. 1999. Micro-PIXE studies of Cd distribution in the nephridia of the earthworm Eisenia foetida (Oligochaeta). Nucl. Instrum. Methods B. 158: 317-322.
24.Reinecke, A.J., and Reinecke, S.A. 2004. Earthworms as test organisms in Ecotoxicological assessment of toxicant impacts on ecosystems. In: Edwards, C.A. (ed) Earthworm ecology. CRC, BocaRaton, FL, Pp: 299-320.
25.Reinecke, A.J., and Reinecke, S.A. 1996. The influence of heavy metals on the growth and reproduction of the compost worm Eisenia foetida (Oligochaeta). Pedobiologia, 40: 439-448.
26.Reinecke, A.J., and Viljoen, S.A. 1990. The influence of feeding patterns on growth and reproduction of the vermicompositing earthworm Eisenia foetida (Oligochaeta). Biology and Fertility of Soils, 10: 3. 184-187.
27.Reinecke, A.J. 1992. A review of ecotoxicological test methods using earthworms. In: Greig-Smith, P.W., Becker, H., Edwards, P.J., Heimbach, F. (Eds.), Ecotoxicology of Earthworms. Intercept, Hants, Pp: 7-19.
28.Renella, G., Mench, M., Land, L., and Nannipieri, P. 2005. Microbial activity and hydrolase synthesis in long-term Cd-contaminated soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 37: 133-139.
29.Rodrı´guez-Ruiz, A 2010. Risk assessment in real soils from the Basque Country after soil health screening trough toxicity profiles based on standard and novel multiple endpoint bioassays. Dissertation, University of the Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain.
30.Roades, J.D. 1996. Salinity: electrical conductivity and and total dissolved solids. Method of soil analysis, parss: chemical methods. Madison. Wisconsin, USA. Pp: 417-436.
31.Rowell, D.L. 1994. soil science methods and Application, part7. Measurement of the composition of soil solution. 146p. 
32.Schreck, E., Geret, F., Gontier, L., and Treilhou, M. 2008. Neurotoxic effect and metabolic responses induced by a mixture of six pesticides on the earthworm Aporrectodea caliginosa nocturna. Chemosphere. 71: 10. 1832-39.
33.Siekierska, E., and Urbanska-Jasik, D. 2002. Cadmium effect on the ovarian structure in earthworm Dendrobaena veneta (Rosa). Environmental Pollution, 120: 289-297.
34.Sizmur, T., and Hodson, M.E. 2009. Do earthworms impact metal mobility and availability in soil?–A review. Environmental Pollution. 157: 7. 1981-89.
35.Sposito, G., Lund, L.J., and Chang, A.C. 1982. Trace metal chemistry in arid zone field soils amended with sewage sludge: i. fractionation of Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb in solid phases. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 46: 260-264.
36.Spurgeon, D.J., and Hopkin, S.P. 1995. Extrapolation of the laboratory-based OECD earthworm toxicity test to metal-contaminated field sites. Ecotoxicology, 4: 190-205.
37.Spurgeon, D.J., Hopkin, S.P., and Jones, D.T. 1994. Effects of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc on growth, reproduction and survival of the earthworm Eisenia foetida (Savigny): Assessing the environmental impact of point-source metal contamination in terrestrial eco-systems. Environmental Pollution, 84: 123-130.
38.Thomas, G.W. 1996. Soil pH and soil acidity in methods of soil analysis. Klute, A. (ed). Part 3. Chemical methods. Madison, wisconsen, USA. Pp: 475-490.
39.Walkey, A., and Black, I.A. 1934. An Examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci. 37: 29-38.
40.Zaltauskaite, J., and Sodiene, I. 2010. Effects of total cadmium and lead concentrations in soil on the growth, reproduction and survival of earthworm Eisenia foetida. Ekologija. 56: 1-2. 10-16.