ABSTRACT
The use of soil fauna as soil quality indicator has been of great importance to understand the biological, chemical and physical variations of ecosystems. The collembola takes part in a group of organisms that has an active participation in organic material transformations of soil. The aim of this work was to evaluate the collembola reproduction in laboratory condition. The used substrate was sample of soil collected from citrus and pinus area with the following treatments: a) citrus soil with: common vetch ground straw, corn ground straw, turnip ground straw, broiller litter and in soil and, b) pinus soil with: common vetch ground straw, corn ground straw, turnip ground straw, broiller litter and in soil. The treatments were maintained in plastic pots at 26 ºC in the darkness, during 180 days, with five repetitions. The soil material from citrus area with turnip ground straw favored the collembola reproduction in laboratory conditions.
Keywords:
food; reproduction; laboratory conditions