The total quantities of carbon were calculated for the initial soils
and the soils after the one-year experiment. They decreased in all
treatments compared to the initial stocks. We recovered between
40 and 77% of the initial OC (Table 2). Most OC was lost from the
vermicompost-amended soil and least OC loss was recorded for the
soil amended with mineral fertilizers. Despite the high relative
decrease in carbon with regards to the initial, carbon stocks were
significantly higher in the soils amended with organic materials
after the end of the experiment, except for the vermicompost
treatment in the presence of earthworms. After the experiment, OC
stocks were significantly higher in compost-amended soil
compared to vermicompost-amended soil. In general, the presence
of earthworms significantly decreased the OC stocks of soil amended
with organic materials, whereas it had no effect on the soil
amended with mineral fertilizer (Table 2).