IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2015) 6-1

Research articleerd

Biodiversity of Soil Invertebrates in Sugar Cane Plantations
with the Different Application of Sugar Distillery SpentWash
DUANGRAT THONGPHAK*
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
E-mail: duathg@kku.ac.th

CHULEEMAS BOONTHAI IWAI
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand

THAMMARED CHAUASAVATHI
Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Received 15 December 2014

Accepted 31 May 2015(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract The objective of this study was to compare the biodiversity of soil invertebrates inthe various utilization of spent wash liquor in sugar cane plantations. Soil invertebrates
were collected in the four different spent wash liquor applications: 1) control plot, 2)applied with spent wash liquor for 1 year plot, 3) applied with spent wash liquor for 2 years
plot and 4) applied with spent wash liquor for 4 years plot. The soil invertebrate samples
were collected by random sampling during November 2012 to October 2013. The results
showed that a total of 7 orders comprising 42 species of 31 families were collected in thisstudy. The density of soil invertebrates in the areas of spent wash liquor application was
significantly higher than those in the control plot. The Shannon-Wiener’s species diversity
index indicated that the diversity was the highest in the plantation applied with spent washliquor for 2 year (2.26), followed by that of applied with spent wash liquor for 4 years(2.06), applied with spent wash liquor at 1 year (2.04) and lastly the control plot (1.57).
Keywords soil invertebrates, spent wash liquor, sugar cane

INTRODUCTION
Thailand is a major producer of sugar and sugar industry offers employment potential andcontributes substantially to economic development. There are about 47 sugar cane mills in Thailand.
The sugar industry produces a huge amount of wastes every day, which is rich in organic materialand characteristically less toxic and easily amenable for microorganisms. Alcohol is produced by
the fermentation of molasses. The liquor left after the sugar production is spent wash. The
application of spent wash liquor in the sugar cane area can increased nutrients content in soil suchas phosphorus potassium calcium and magnesium (Soongsud et al., 2007). Soil invertebrates areimportant in the functioning of nearly all environments, with changes in species composition
potentially reflecting changes in the ecosystem (Madden and Fox, 1997). Knowledge of diversity
helps in understanding changes in ecosystem complexity. Soil macro-invertebrates play afundamental role in soil processes. They are integral to the cycling of organic matter and associatednutrients, and physically alter soil structure through movement (Jouquet et al., 2006; Wolfe andKlironomos, 2005). Loss or high of invertebrate diversity can adversely affect soil processes,
ultimately altering the availability and composition of nutrients within the soil (Ehrenfeld and Neal,2001; Jouquet et al., 2006; Belnap and Susan, 2001). Soil invertebrates also contribute to thesuccession of above ground vegetal communities through provision of resources, as well as
selective consumption of available resources (De Deyn et al., 2003). Thus, maximum retention ofinvertebrate biodiversity is beneficial to biotic communities above and below the soil surface. The
function of soil invertebrates within their communities, and their effects upon the environment, areⒸ ISERD

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often disproportionate to their abundance (Lavelle, 1996). The objective of this study was tocompare the biodiversity of soil invertebrates in various utilization of spent wash liquor in thesugar cane areas.
METHODOLOGY
The study was carried out monthly in the Nampong district, Khon Kaen province in the northeastern part of Thailand during November 2012 to October 2013 (Fig. 1). The study sites werelocated within four sugar cane plantations were selected based on different management: 1) controlplot, 2) applied with spent wash liquor for 1 year, 3) applied with spent wash liquor for 2 years and4) applied with spent wash liquor for 4 years. The soil insect and soil invertebrate were collectedusing hand collecting and Berlese funnel methods (Southwood, 1994) (Fig. 2). For hand collecting
on soil surface was set five sampling sites (1 m2/site) in each plot. The sampling sites were sampled
for soil invertebrates lived on soil surface and within soil depth at 10 cm using Berlese funnelmethods. The samples were then classified by morphospecies and stored in 75% ethanol. All insect
specimens were identified at least up to taxonomic order using the identification guides ofTriplehorn and Johnson (2005) and Bolton (1994). The specimens were also compared with thereference collections at the Insect Museum, Faculty of Agriculture, Khonkaen University. The
Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index (Krebs, 1999), was used to calculate the diversity of soil
invertebrates collected. The formula of the Shannon-Wiener’s diversity index used is presented asfollowsH’ = Σ (pi)(lnpi)(1)i=1
where H’= Species diversity index, s = Number of species and pi = Proportion of the total sample
belonging to ith species.
The evenness index (Krebs, 1999) was calculated to determine the equal abundance of soil
invertebrates in each study site as follows:
Evenness =𝐻′𝐻′𝑀𝐴𝑋(2)

where H’ = Observed index of species diversity and H’MAX = Maximum possible index of diversity.
The diversity values for Shannon-Weiner were classified based on scale developed byFernando (1998) and is presented in Table 1.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The result showed that a total of fourteen orders comprising 51 species in 24 families werecollected in this study (Fig. 3). The diversity of soil invertebrates in applied with spent wash liquor
area was significantly higher than those in the control plot. The dominant insects in all areas wereHymenoptera (42.43%) followed by Coleoptera (23.06%), and Araneae ( 5.75%), respectively (Fig.
4 A and B). The sugarcane area applied with spent wash liquor for 2 years (Plot 3) has the highest
abundance of Order Hymenoptera followed by the control plot (Fig. 5). Only one subfamily ofFormacinae under Hymenoptera has been found in all areas.
Table 1 Classification of species richness indices (adopted from Fernando 1998)
Relative values
Very highHighModerateLow
Very low

Species diversity>3.50
3.00 – 3.49
2.50 – 2.99
2.00 – 2.49
<1.99

Evenness>0.75
0.50 – 0.74
0.25 – 0.49
0.15 – 0.24
< 0.14Ⓒ ISERD

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Fig. 1 Study area at Nam Phong district in Khon Kaen Province (red) in Northeastern
ThailandFig. 2 Soil invertebrate sampling methods

ABCD

Fig. 3 Example of soil invertebrates (A) Order Coleoptera (B) Order Isoptera(C) Order Hymenoptera (D) Order Diplura
The diversity of insect in this study is presented in Fig 6. Overall, the results show that insect
diversity value for all of the sugarcane plantation areas was low diversity with H´=2.04-2.32 while
the evenness index were similar in all areas with 0.56-0.46. The Shannon-Wiener’s species
diversity index indicated that the diversity was the highest in the plantation applied with spent washliquor for 1 year (2.32), followed by the plantation applied with spent wash liquor for 4 years (2.23),
applied with spent wash liquor for 2 years (2.15) and lastly the control plot (2.04).
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OrderIJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2015) 6-1etc.
AranaeDipteraHomoptera
Hemiptera
Isoptera
Orthoptera
Collembola
Hymenoptera
Coleoptera
010203040

Percentage of insects orderFig. 4 Taxonomic of soil invertebrate in all areas

Number of sample

1200
1000800

Plot 4Plot 3600

Plot 2Plot 1400
2000Order of soil inveterbrate

Fig. 5 Taxonomic of soil invertebrate in different land management
Plot 1 = control plot, Plot 2 = applied with spent wash liquor for 1 year ,Plot 3 = applied with spent wash liquor for 2 years and Plot 4 = applied withspent wash liquor for 4 years
(A)

(B)

0.70

2.50

0.60

2.00

0.50

Evenness (J')

Shannon index (H')

3.00

1.50
1.00

0.40
0.30
0.20

0.10

0.50

0.00

0.00
Plot 1Plot 2Plot 3

Plot 1Plot 4

Plot 2Plot 3

Plot 4

Land types

land types

Fig. 6 Comparison between Shannon index (A) and evenness (B) of species diversity in eachplantation
Plot 1 = control plot, Plot 2 = applied with spent wash liquor for 1 year,
Plot 3 = applied with spent wash liquor for 2 years and Plot 4 = applied withspent wash liquor at 4 years

Results of this study show that the sugar cane plantations after land application of spent wash
liquor has high diversity and abundance of insect fauna compare with the control plot. The increasein soil invertebrate diversity in the application of spent wash liquor area may be due to increasedⒸ ISERD

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nutrients content in soil. The majority of insects found in this study were Hymenoptera (ants) andColeoptera (beetles). This is because the ants and beetles may be occurred most of the time in thisstudy. We observed that the ants were the most common and the greatest number of insect species
at the sugarcane plantation. Nigel and Paul (1992) stated that ants are found in the most terrestrial
habitats. Most are predators and as such are critical component of aboveground and soil
communities. They are usually less spectacular effects on the environments.
CONCLUSION
It may be concluded that the diversity of soil invertebrates in the sugar cane plots applied withspent wash liquor was significantly higher than those in control plot. If an understanding of
microhabitats used by specific ant species can be developed, along with the key trophic interactions,then the potential of using insects as terrestrial indicator species for detecting environmental
changes can potentially be reliably and easily with low cost and time.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was supported by the Khon Kaen University funding 2013 under the project
Relationships between soil insect and arthropod diversity and utilization of spent wash liquor in
economic crop area in Nam Phong watershed. Special thanks to Integrated water Resource
Management Centre in Northeast, Thailand.
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