Département d’Agropédologie, Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Agroforestérie, Université Jean Lorougnon Guédé de Daloa, BP 150 Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire
The ecosystem services provided by earthworm populations are poorly studied under perennial crop agrosystems in Côte d’Ivoire. The present study, carried out in the Daloa department, aims to identify groups of responses within earthworm populations to changes in edaphic parameters in three types of perennial crops. To this end, earthworm populations and physico-chemical parameters were sampled on three transects per plantation, in nine plantations divided between three facies: cocoa, oil palm and rubber. The stand of the nine plantations was found to be rich in 13 species of earthworms. Six species dominated the stand, of which four, namely Hyperiodrilus africanus, Stuhlmannia zielae, Dichogaster baeri and Gordiodrilus paski showed a preference for crops. Indeed, Hyperiodrilus africanus, Stuhlmannia zielae and Gordiodrilus paski were indicative of sandy soils under palm plantations; the detritivore Dichogaster baeri was associated with cocoa and rubber plantations where the soils are silty-sandy and have a high organic matter content. These results open up new avenues of research on the roles of earthworms in the functioning of soils in cocoa, palm and rubber plantations in the region. For example, it will be investigated whether earthworm populations can be used in the development of a holistic index similar to the general soil quality index to assess soil quality.