| Summary: | This research was conducted In Sekong Estate Sabah located In Kinabatangan to study the diversity and faunal composition of soil invertebrates in the soil treated with chemical, bioorganic, biochemical, mycorrhiza plus chemical fertilizers. The objectives of this study were to compare the diversity and faunal composition of soil invertebrates, to Identify the soil invertebrates occurring in oil palm plantation and to compare the faunal composition of the beneficial and non-benefidal soil invertebrates in the different treatments; chemical, bioorganic, biochemical and mycorrhiza plus chemical fertilizers. Sampling was done three times in the month of March, April and May. The identification of soil invertebrates was done in the laboratory. The samples were placed in Berlese - Tullgren funnels and 75% of ethanol was used as solvent. Each treatment has four replicates. The soil Invertebrates were operated for five days. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Blocked Design (RCBD) which was used for soil sampling. Due to insuffident data, visual inspection was made based on the result obtained from species-diversity indices. The alpha diversity indices (Shannon-Weiner, Margalef, Simpson) show that bioorganic treatment had the highest species diversity, richness and evenness compared to chemical, biochemical, mycorrhiza plus chemical and control. In term of abundance of benefiCial and non-benefidal soil invertebrates, there were no significant difference in treatments of chemical, bioorganic, mycorrhiza plus chemical and control (Mann-Whitney U Test; p>O.05). However, there is a significant difference between benefidal and non-benefidal soil invertebrates in biochemical treatment (Mann-Whitney U Test; p<O.05). Fewer studies have been conducted on the effect of different types of fertilizers to abundance of soil fauna and the role of benefidal and non-benefidal soil Invertebrates to oil palm plantation. Through this study, it can be concluded that bioorganic fertilizer could provide more benefit to oil palm plantation compared to other treatments because it supports the soil ecosystem as it provides the suitable conditions for soil invertebrates to survive. Thus, the diversity and faunal composition of soil invertebrates can be enhanced as the ecosystem is well-protected.
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