No-tillage (NT) and no-tillage systems (NTS) are widely used conservation agriculture practices in Brazil, and in the state of Paraná, nearly 80% of annual crops are cultivated using these methods. Compared with NT, NTS sites permanently include: minimum soil disturbance, soil cover (straw and living vegetation) and crop rotation and diversification with cover crops. These practices often increase earthworm populations, that can be used to indicate soil health. Herein, we review soil health classification of NT sites, and the species found in Paraná state. We compiled information from 130 sites with NT or NTS, located in 29 counties, of which 93 had biomass and 91 had species richness data, aiming to compare NT with NTS sites, and the effect of the age of these practices on earthworm populations. Overall, 29 earthworm species were recorded, of which 17 were native, including many new to science. Mean abundance and biomass in NT + NTS were 104 ind m and 2.5 g m, respectively, and richness 2.5 species per site. Abundance was significantly higher in NT than NTS in the initial phase of adoption, and both abundance and biomass decreased with increasing age of NT. Earthworm abundance and species richness were positively correlated with clayey soils and phosphorus content, while higher biomass was associated with soil carbon content and pH. A new classification system was proposed, with the categories poor (<50 ind. m, 1 species), moderate (≥50 to <100 ind m, 2 species), good (≥100 to <150 ind m, 3 species), very good (≥150 to 200 ind m, 4 species) and excellent (≥200 ind m, ≥5 species) soil health, using earthworm abundance and species richness, respectively. Most of the sites sampled showed poor or moderate soil health, with few displaying very good or excellent health, indicating the need for improved management practices, in order to promote earthworm populations and their potential benefits to soil fertility and plant production.

中文翻译：

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蚯蚓作为免耕农业生态系统中的土壤健康指标

免耕 (NT) 和免耕系统 (NTS) 是巴西广泛使用的保护性农业实践，在巴拉那州，近 80% 的一年生作物都是使用这些方法种植的。与 NT 相比，NTS 场地永久包括：最小的土壤扰动、土壤覆盖（秸秆和活植被）以及作物轮作和覆盖作物多样化。这些做法通常会增加蚯蚓的数量，可以用来指示土壤健康状况。在此，我们回顾了北领地地点的土壤健康分类以及巴拉那州发现的物种。我们收集了位于29个县的130个NT或NTS站点的信息，其中93个有生物量数据，91个有物种丰富度数据，旨在比较NT和NTS站点，以及这些做法的年龄对蚯蚓种群的影响。总体而言，共记录了 29 种蚯蚓，其中 17 种是本地的，其中包括许多科学界未曾见过的种类。 NT + NTS 的平均丰度和生物量分别为 104 ind m 和 2.5 g m ，每个地点的丰富度为 2.5 个物种。在采用初期，NT 的丰度显着高于 NTS，并且随着 NT 年龄的增加，丰度和生物量均下降。蚯蚓丰度和物种丰富度与粘土和磷含量呈正相关，而较高的生物量与土壤碳含量和 pH 值相关。提出了一个新的分类系统，其中类别为差（<50 ind. m，1个物种），中等（≥50至<100 ind m，2个物种），良好（≥100至<150 ind m，3个物种），分别使用蚯蚓丰度和物种丰富度，评价土壤健康状况非常好（≥150 至 200 ind m，4 个物种）和极好（≥200 ind m，≥5 个物种）。大多数采样地点的土壤健康状况较差或中等，很少有健康状况非常良好或极好的，这表明需要改进管理措施，以促进蚯蚓数量及其对土壤肥力和植物生产的潜在益处。