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Why Do Salt Kill Earthworm ?

Earthworms are often considered pests by some people although they are harmless, most people get irritated by just the sight of them.

As kids and even when some turned adults most people used salt as a means of pesticide to kill earthworm, this was mostly done for the fun of it due to the fact that earthworms dance and wriggle around if salt is applied to their body.

Their skin gets oxygen and dissolve it on the mucus membrane and then it is carried by the circulatory system to the cells, so it is very important for their skin to be with moisture all the time, if not they will not be able to get oxygen and will die of suffocation.

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When salt is sprinkled on them due to a characteristic property of salt, their skin dries out due to osmosis. This also leads to their shrinkage and hence they die! However salt at lower concentration would not cause mortality but may reduce reproduction.

They are unable to tolerate high ionic strength, because high salt concentrations destroy their sensitive skin, and the earthworms cannot have control over the osmotic regulation. In addition, the neurosecretory cells in earthworms play a vital role in water balance as well as ionic and osmotic regulation.

The salt stress and desiccation significantly interfere with the functions of these neurosecretory cells. Hence, salts like sodium chloride are extremely toxic to most of the earthworm species.

Sodium chloride could cause mortality at a concentration of 0.5 per cent itself, whereas other salts such as potassium chloride are toxic at a concentration of more than 1 per cent. However, the salts at lower (sublethal) concentrations may not cause mortality in earthworms, although they would substantially reduce the reproduction, especially production of cocoons (egg cases).

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Salt that is usually applied to their skin is on the other hand hygroscopic, and when sprinkled on the earthworm it absorbs all the moisture present on the skin of the earthworm and it gets dried up, without moisture for oxygen harvest (respiration) the earthworm dies a painful death.

So to those people who still practice using of salt to kill earthworms, hope you realize that it is pain being inflicted on an innocent animal. Earthworms on the other hand are very useful to humans, it is called the farmers best friend due to their role in agriculture.

Earthworm never mean harm to anyone so before you use salt on earthworms anytime again, take a time to ask yourself if it is necessary or if there is an alternative. Do not kill an earthworm with salt for the fun of it.

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Bottom Line:

Earthworms do not have a respiratory system. They breathe through their skin. ... If salt is sprinkled on an earthworm, the high concentration of salt outside the skin causes loss of water through osmosis. As a result, earthworm gets dehydrated very rapidly and dies.

 



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