Background To promote straw degradation, we inoculated returned farmland straw with earthworms (Pheretima guillelmi). Increasing the number of earthworms may generally alter soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and the biological activity of agricultural soils. Methods We performed soil mesocosm experiments with and without earthworms to assess the decomposition and microbial mineralization of returned straw and soil enzyme activity across different time periods. Results When earthworms were present in soil, the surface residues were completely consumed during the first four weeks, but when earthworms were absent, most of the residues remained on the soil surface after 18 weeks. On day 28, the SOC content was significantly higher in the treatment where both earthworms and residue had been added. The SOC content was lower in the treatment where earthworms but no residue had been added. The organic carbon content in water-stable macroaggregates showed the same trend. During the first 14 weeks, the soil basal respiration was highest in the treatments with both residues and earthworms. From weeks 14 to 18, basal respiration was highest in the treatments with residues but without earthworms. We found a significant positive correlation between soil basal respiration and soil dissolved organic carbon content. Earthworms increased the activity of protease, invertase, urease and alkaline phosphatase enzymes, but decreased β-cellobiohydrolase, β-glucosidase and xylosidase activity, as well as significantly reducing ergosterol content. Conclusion The primary decomposition of exogenous rice residues was mainly performed by earthworms. Over a short period of time, they converted plant carbon into soil carbon and increased SOC. The earthworms played a key role in carbon conversion and stabilization. In the absence of exogenous residues, earthworm activity accelerated the decomposition of original organic carbon in the soil, reduced SOC, and promoted carbon mineralization.

中文翻译：

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蚯蚓加速稻草分解和水稻农业生态系统土壤有机碳动态的维持

背景为了促进秸秆降解，我们用蚯蚓（Pheretima guillelmi）接种了返回的农田秸秆。增加蚯蚓的数量通常会改变土壤有机碳 (SOC) 动态和农业土壤的生物活性。方法 我们在有和没有蚯蚓的情况下进行了土壤中宇宙实验，以评估不同时间段返回的秸秆和土壤酶活性的分解和微生物矿化。结果当土壤中存在蚯蚓时，前4周土壤表面残留物被完全消耗，而当没有蚯蚓时，18周后大部分残留物仍留在土壤表面。在第 28 天，加入蚯蚓和渣的处理中 SOC 含量显着升高。未添加蚯蚓但未添加残渣的处理SOC含量较低。水稳性大骨料中的有机碳含量也呈现出相同的趋势。在前 14 周，土壤基础呼吸在残留物和蚯蚓处理中最高。从第 14 周到第 18 周，在有残留但没有蚯蚓的处理中，基础呼吸最高。我们发现土壤基础呼吸与土壤溶解有机碳含量呈显着正相关。蚯蚓增加了蛋白酶、转化酶、脲酶和碱性磷酸酶的活性，但降低了β-纤维二糖水解酶、β-葡萄糖苷酶和木糖苷酶的活性，并显着降低了麦角甾醇的含量。结论外源稻渣的初级分解主要由蚯蚓进行。在很短的时间内，他们将植物碳转化为土壤碳并增加了 SOC。蚯蚓在碳转化和稳定中发挥了关键作用。在没有外源残留物的情况下，蚯蚓活动加速了土壤中原始有机碳的分解，降低了土壤有机碳，促进了碳矿化。