Abstract:
Vermiculture biotechnology is a modem concept o f harnessing an ecosystem for effective utilization of organic residuals with the help o f earthworms. Earthworms are one of the important members of soil fauna, which is traditionally been known as beneficial in agriculture. The role of earthworms in farming was known to farmers since long, but their role in waste treatment is a new area. Earthworms can convert organic wastes in to valuable products such as; vermicompost, vermicast, vermiwash, vermibiopesticides, vitamins, enzymes and antibiotics.
The present research was conducted to evaluate the composition of vermiwash produced from the locally available organic materials such as rice straw and cow dung. There were two treatments such as vermiwash composting unit and control composting unit. Rice straw cow dung mixture was inoculated with earthworms and used as vermiwash composting unit. Control composting unit was prepared without earthworms. This experiment was done in replicates (three vermiwash composting units and three control composting units). All units were moistened every day using 100ml of distilled water. Extract (from vermiwash composting units and control composting units) was collected monthly over three months and subjected to chemical analysis.
According to the statistical analysis, there was a significant difference (Pr>t, 0.05) between two , treatments (vermiwash composting samples and control composting samples). Organic Carbon,Phosphorus, Potassium, Sulphur, Calcium and Magnesium were showed significantly higher values in vermiwash composting samples than control composting samples. There was no significant difference for nitrogen and copper in both treatments. Treatment effect was varied for some nutrients (Zinc, Manganese) for some months. Variation of nutrients values with time were observed for Organic Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulphur and Manganese.
From the results, it can be concluded that the vermiwash produced from the locally available organic materials could be used as an environmentally friendly foliar organic fertilizer in agriculture.
