Objective It was a great significance to study the impaction of the earthworm activity on soil infiltration characteristics and soil water content in different land uses, which will improve the regional efficient use of rainfall water.

Methods Four land use types were taken as the research object, such as the abandoned land, clover land, wheat land and apple orchards land in Changwu County. The dyeing tracer technique was taken to explore the soil dyeing characteristics, soil infiltration rate and soil water content by earthworm activities in different land use types.

Results  Soil moisture was significantly different between earthworm activity and no-earthworm activity under different land use types. The soil dyeing depth with earthworm activity was 2.36, 3.08, 1.41 and 2.20 times than that of no-earthworm activity, and the dyeing area ratios were 2.33, 5.48, 1.81 and 1.98 times than that of no-earthworm activity in the abandoned land, clover land, wheat land and apple orchards land, respectively. The initial infiltration rate, average infiltration rate and stable infiltration rate of soil water under earthworm activity were 1.43 - 3.17, 3.10 - 7.60 and 1.00-9.68 times of no-earthworm activity in different land use types, respectively. The soil water content with earthworm activity was higher than that in no-earthworm activity in different land use types. The soil water content with earthworm activity increased by 12.34%, 21.76%, 8.70% and 53.74% in the abandoned land, clover land, wheat land and apple orchards land, respectively.

Conclusion Earthworms improved soil water infiltration and water infiltration rate, increased the preferential flow infiltration depth by changing soil macropores, and increased soil deep water content finally, which was helpful in water use efficiency of precipitation.