The objective of this work was to study the soil arthropodfauna of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) under no-till and conventional systems, in the different seasons of the year and at different soil depths. The trial was conducted from August 1996 to April 1997 in the experimental area of the Plant Protection Department, Federal University of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. An extractor was utilized to collect the arthropods at five spots and four soil depths (0-5, 5-10, 10-15 and 15-20cm), in each season of the year. The Insecta was the most significant class, accounting for 87.68% and 100% of the total number of arthropods, respectively in the no-till and conventional systems. Coleoptera was shown to be the predominant order, with larvae of Scarabaeidae, Carabidae and Elateridae accounting for 25.0%, 10.8% and 8.8% of the total of the specimens collected. The soil arthropodfauna varied throughout the year and decreased with increasing soil depth.
Seasonality; soil extractor; crop system
