Now Reading: Glyphosate reduces earthworm reproduction by 56%, Austrian study finds
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Glyphosate reduces earthworm reproduction by 56%, Austrian study finds
Glyphosate reduces earthworm reproduction by 56%, Austrian study finds
Times of India reports that Austrian scientists have found that a glyphosate-based herbicide reduced reproduction of a common soil-dwelling earthworm species by 56% within three months. The greenhouse experiment, published in Scientific…
The Story in Brief
Times of India reports that Austrian scientists have found that a glyphosate-based herbicide reduced reproduction of a common soil-dwelling earthworm species by 56% within three months. The greenhouse experiment, published in Scientific Reports, also recorded a 46% drop in surface casting activity by a deep-burrowing species. Researchers collected 193 cocoons of Aporrectodea caliginosa from untreated soil but only 99 from treated plots, and hatching rates fell from 71% to 32%.
The study used two species with different soil habits to test Roundup under near-realistic agricultural conditions. The deep-burrowing Lumbricus terrestris showed reproductive effects too but the sample size was too small for statistical analysis. The authors caution that the results reflect a controlled greenhouse setting, not open fields.
The Indian Opinion
This greenhouse study usefully complicates the glyphosate debate. Activists may seize on the 56% figure to call for a ban, while farm lobbies will point to the low number of replications and the fact that effects varied between species. The measured view: a single lab test cannot settle whether field use harms soil life. The real test will come from long-term field trials that track earthworm populations under actual farming conditions. Until then, claims either way are premature.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
