{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T06:07:49Z","timestamp":1788847669129,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788825600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Living cover crops are increasingly used in orchards, but evidence linking cover-crop identity to earthworm indicators under subtropical conditions remains limited. This cross-sectional field comparison was based on one sampling event in November 2025. We compared perennial peanut (\n                    <jats:italic>Arachis pintoi<\/jats:italic>\n                    ) and\n                    <jats:italic>Indigofera hendecaphylla<\/jats:italic>\n                    Jacq. ex Poir. with a weedy control and measured community-level earthworm abundance and fresh biomass, plant-derived inputs, and selected soil properties at 0\u201310 and 10\u201320 cm. Mixed-effects models accounting for the randomized block design detected treatment- and depth-associated differences in earthworm abundance and biomass. At 0\u201310 cm,\n                    <jats:italic>I. hendecaphylla<\/jats:italic>\n                    had the highest earthworm abundance (156.00 \u00b1 40.92 ind. m\u207b\u00b2) and fresh biomass (2.408 \u00b1 0.365\u00a0g m\u207b\u00b2). Across 0\u201320 cm, total abundance and fresh biomass were 78.1% and 93.3% higher, respectively, under\n                    <jats:italic>A. pintoi<\/jats:italic>\n                    than under the weedy control, and 208.2% and 218.3% higher under\n                    <jats:italic>I. hendecaphylla<\/jats:italic>\n                    .\n                    <jats:italic>I. hendecaphylla<\/jats:italic>\n                    also had the highest litter standing crop (625.89 \u00b1 32.45\u00a0g fresh mass m\u207b\u00b2) and the highest topsoil organic matter, total nitrogen, and alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen. Correlation and ordination analyses summarized associations with surface litter and nutrient-related variables but did not establish independent drivers or causality. At this single November sampling event, both living covers were associated with higher earthworm abundance and fresh biomass, with the strongest association under\n                    <jats:italic>I. hendecaphylla<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Temporal persistence requires multi-season sampling, dry-mass measurements, and species or ecological-group identification.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1841226","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T05:35:27Z","timestamp":1788845727000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Living cover crops are associated with higher earthworm abundance and biomass in a subtropical citrus orchard"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Chengcheng","family":"Zeng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhongyi","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongqin","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lirong","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tianming","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuefeng","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hai","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenbin","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caihui","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tieguang","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Resources and Environmental Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences","place":["Nanning, China"]},{"name":"Guangxi Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","volume-title":"Soil Agrochemical Analysis","author":"Bao","year":"2000"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"505","DOI":"10.1038\/nature13855","article-title":"Belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning","volume":"515","author":"Bardgett","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3096","DOI":"10.1002\/agj2.21160","article-title":"Cover crops and soil ecosystem engineers","volume":"114","author":"Blanco-Canqui","year":"2022","journal-title":"Agron. 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