Prevalence of springtail (Collembola) in the cultivated maize fields at Puthia Upazila, Rajshahi district, Bangladesh

Abstract

In the present study we have collected 4697 individuals of collembola from the five maize fields (Zea mays) during April to December 2015 at Puthia Upazila. They were identified into five families and six species, viz., Podura aquatica (Poduridae), Hypogastrura armata (Hypogastruridae), Entomobrya nivalis & Orchesella sp (Entomobryidae), Dicranocentroides gisini (Paronellidae), and Tomocerus minor (Tomoceridae). From the monthly samples, the highest number of collembolan was found in the month May (983) and lowest was in November (259). Among the five unions of Puthia upazila, the highest prevalence of collembola found in Belpukuria union (21%), Silmaria (20%), Puthia (20%), Jewpara (20%) and Baneshwar union (19%) respectively. The highest prevalence of collembola was Entomobrya nivalis (59%), and lowest was Tomocerus minor (2%), and the rest was Orchesella sp (20%), Dicranocentroides gisini (8%), Podura aquatic (6%), Hypogastrura armata (5%) respectively. From the results it has been found that both month and Collembola has a significant diversity on number of collembola population in maize fields (P-value 0.002 and