INTERACTION BETWEEN EARTHWORMS AND MICROORGANISMS
蚯蚓与微生物的相互作用

Microorganisms were observed in both body and cocoons of earthworms.They came from the worm's environment.During passage of food through earthworm gut,vegetative hypha and most of bacteria were killed,only fungal spores and some bacteria remained viable.After passage through the gut,the population of the slow growing bacteria declined.However the fast growing ones reproduced rapidly in the gut so that their number in excreta could be larger than that in the uningested materials.Earthworms enhance the vertical propagation in soils of both beneficial and harmful microorganisms.They could also reduce the severity of some soil born fungal diseases.Fungi seemed to be an important item of earthworm diet,and some digestive enzymes in gut of earthworms might be of microbial origin.Hence microorganisms contributed greatly to assimilation and uptake of organic matter by earthworms.Although a number of evidence suggests that earthworms interact with microorganisms,the mechnisms of the interactions remain to be investigated thoroughly,and the process to be quantified.