Influence of amount of red worm (Eisenia foetida) on the organic matter degradation during vermicomposting of cattle manure

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the degradation pattern of organic substances through different amount of red worms during vermicomposting of cattle manure. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted with three treatments e.g., T₁ (vermicomposting of 25 kg cowdung using 50 g of red worms), T₂ (vermicomposting of 25 kg cowdung using 100 g of red worms) and T₃ (vermicomposting of 25 kg cowdung using 150 g of red worms) with 3 replications. Parameters studied were dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), ash, organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), crude fiber (CF), carbon nitrogen ratio (C/N) and pH at different days of intervals. Results showed that the amount of red worms has a significant influence on the quality of the final vermicompost. The highest DM content was observed in T₃ and the lowest DM content was observed in T₁ after 45 days of composting. There were significant (p<0.001) higher reduction rate of OM, OC and CF were found in T₃ compared to T₁ and T₂ and the differences were also significant (p<0.001) among days intervals over 45 days of experimental period. TN content gradually increases with the increase of time. There was significant (P<0.05) difference in TN alteration among treatments along with time intervals. There was significant differences (P<0.001) in C/N among treatments and a gradual increment of C/N was found with the advancement of the vermicomposting. There were a little changes in pH of all the treatments but those treatments were not followed a trend during the total experimental period. Finally, it may be concluded that organic matter degradation rate is faster in T₃ compared to T₁ and T₂. These might be indicated that amount of red worms are an important factors of OM decomposition or digestion during vermicomposting period.

Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2020. 49 (1): 45-54