Vol. 8, Issue 2 (2019)

Author(s):
Karthigeyan M, Mani P and Alagesan P

Abstract:
Study on biodiversity of earthworm is very important since its impact on increasing soil fertility. The present study explored the earthworm species from different soil habitats of Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, India. The studied five distinct locations were cultivating land of Vadipatti, non cultivating land of Thirumangalam, grass land of Usilampatti, garden of Alagar Kovil and Sewage Soil of Melur. Based on the physicochemical conditions of the soil conditions like pH, temperature, organic carbon, organic matter and moisture, the diversity of earthworm greatly varied and morphologically distinct earthworm from each location was identified using molecular identification methodology with COI gene partial sequence. From the five different locations, four different species of earthworm Was identified viz., Drawida sp., Perionyx excavatus, Lampito mauritii and Drawida japonica, respectively. Among the earthworm species, Drawida sp. represented the dominating species with 33.33% of overall collected earthworm, followed by 25% of each Perionyx excavatus and Lampito mauritii and the least values of 16.67% was represented by Drawida japonica. This is the first report on diversity of earthworm species isolated from different soil habitats of Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, India.