SHORT COMMUNICATION ISSN

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1 INT J CURR SCI 2015, 18: E SHORT COMMUNICATION ISSN Use of manure worm (Eisenia andrei) in direct vermicomposting of an aquatic weed salvinia (Salvinia molesta Mitchell) by applying the concept of high-rate vermicomposting: a reconnoitery study Channgam Khamarang, M. Premalatha and SA Abbasi* Centre for Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Puducherry , India *Corresponding author: abbasi.cpee@gmail.com Abstract An epigeic earthworm species Eisenia Andrei, (Bouche) which is known to be a manure worm as it predominantly dwells in the midst of animal manure, was explored as potential bioagent for vermicomposting the highly invasive aquatic weed salvinia (Salvinia molesta, Mitchell). The concept of high-rate vermicomposting and associated technology earlier developed by S.A. Abbasi and co-workers were employed for the purpose. As reported in this paper, E. andrei was able to convert salvinia into vermicast without the need of any pre-composting or supplementation of animal manure. In a semicontinuous, pulse-fed, reactor operation at solids retention time of 20 days, a rising trend in the vermicast production was seen over the course of 100 days of the experiments indicating that the epigeic was taking increasingly to salvinia. There was no animal morality; rather there was reproduction as seen in the formation of juveniles and cocoons in the vermireactos. Keywords: high-rate vermicomposting, salvinia, Eisenia andrei Received: 18 th July 2015; Revised: 28 th July; Accepted: 04 th August; IJCS New Liberty Group 2015 Introduction Salvinia (Salvinia molesta, Mitchell) is regarded as the fastest growing of all invasive plants, with the possible exception of water hyacinth (Abbasi and Nipaney, 1986, 1993). The weed is capable of rapidly colonizing water-bodies, and does it so completely that it covers lakes, canals, and ponds from edge to edge, putting the underlying water out of sight. As a consequence, salvinia infestation plays havoc with the water quality and the aquatic biota, leading to enormous losses. As there is no process in existence with which salvinia can be utilized at the scales at which it is generated in nature, there is imperative necessity to develop such processes. In pursuance of this objective we have explored the possibility of using salvinia to generate organic fertilizer in the form of vermicompost. The epigeic earthworm species Eisenia andrei (Bouche) was employed for the purpose. E. andrei is called, a manure worm because, similar to E. fetida, it dwells predominantly in the midst of animal manure and has been used in the past in vermicomposting of animal manure (Elvira et al., 1997; Pizl and Novakova, 2003; Aira et al., 2011). A few studies also exist on the use of E.andrei in processing manure-phytomass blends (Frederickson et al., 1997; Dominguez et al., 1997; Elvira et al., 1999; Tajbaksh et al., 2008; Degefe et al., 2012; Mendoza-Hernandez et al., 2013), but no report exists on its successful use in direct vermicomposting of phytomass. As E. andrei often dwells along with E. fetida and has similar size and habits, is often mistaken

2 for E. fetida. There are morphological dissimilarities (Fig. 1) and two have been established as being independent species (Domingnez et al., 2005; Peret Losada et al., 2005). Materials and Methods In the high-rate vermicomposting paradigm (Gajalakshmi et al., 2002; 2005; Abbasi et al., 2009; Sanker Ganesh et al., 2009; Abbasi et al., 2011; Tauseef et al., 2013 b) reactors with very high surface-to-volume ratios are used so as to have substrate height within 6-8 cm. Moist jute cloth is used as bedding to maximize the use of reactor space and the substrate is pulse-fed, with concomitant harvesting of vermicast, at solid retention times (SRT) of 15 ± 5 days. Earthworms are employed in densities of animals per Kg of feed. In the present experiment rectangular reactors made up of 5 mm thick card-board were used. They were lined with plastic sheet to prevent leakage of water and escape/predation of earthworms. Bedding consisted to two jute cloth sheets of freshly harvested and rinsed salvinia was laid over the bedding, 50 adults of E. Andrei were released into it. We used an earthworm density which was much lesser than ideal for high-rate vermicomposting because we intentionally kept the substrate well in excuses of that which the earthworms could consume in 20 days. This was done to obtain values of maximum vermiconvertion per worm achievable in these reactors. With this information it is possible to work out the number of worms needed per unit mass of substrate to achieve a near complete convention at a given SRT. The reactors were kept at 30 ± 5%. At 20-day intervals the reactor contents were removed and placed in a separate container for the quantification of vermicast, zoomass change in adults, and production of juveniles and cocoons. Within a few minutes reactors were re-started with everything else same as at start except that form earthworms removed from the previous run, only adults were reintroduced into corresponding reactor and, for the vermicast harvested, of 3 mm thickness, each saturated with water. After 2 kg Table 1. Conversion of salvinia (2 kg) to vermicast by 50 adults of E.andrei Number of days of reactor operation Fresh weight Equivalent dry weight Vermicast generated As a fraction of dry weight equivalent of feed mass % Vermicast per worm, per day (mg)

an equivalent quantity of salvinia was introduced. This was in accordance with the pseudo discretized continuous operation protocol (PDCOP) earlier developed by us (Gajalakshmi et al.

3 an equivalent quantity of salvinia was introduced. This was in accordance with the pseudo discretized continuous operation protocol (PDCOP) earlier developed by us (Gajalakshmi et al., 2002, 2005; Sanker Ganesh et al., 2009). All quantities were adjusted so that the feed and the casting mass as reported in this paper represent dry weights (taken after oven-drying at 105 C to constant weight). Fig. 1. Morphology of E. fetida and E. andrei During vermicomposting 50-60% of the organic carbon of the substrate is lost by way of respiration by earthworm (Hussain et al., 2015). Hence the vermicast actually represents the utilization of about double that amount of salivinia (ca 32%). It can be surmised that thrice the earthworm density used in the present experiment, in other words 75 animals per Kg of salvinia, would achieve near complete utilization of salvinia in generating vermicompost at the SRT of 20 days. This is several times faster that 3-4 months needed by conventional vermireactos even in processing animal manure. Acknowledgement We thank the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, New Delhi for support. First author thanks the UGC, New Delhi for Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship. Results and Discussion The vermicast production began within 24 hrs of the start of the reactor and significant convertion of the weed to vermicast was seen during the very first harvesting done on the 20 th day (Table 1). The findings were reproducible within a relative error of less than 10%. As the earthworms had been cultured on cowdung as feed, they appeared to be acclimatizing to all-salvinia feed this is reflected in the fact that in subsequent days the rate of the vermicast production increased and reached a plateu of 15.8 ± 0.8% by 120 th day. There was no earthworm mortality. Rather the animals seemed to quickly adapt to the new all-salvinia deed as well as the environment of their new dwelling in the high-rate vermireactors. They began reproduction briskly juveniles producing over 3 cocoons per worm in each run. References Abbasi SA, Nipaney PC (1986). Infestation by aquatic weeds of the fern genus salvinia - its status and control. Environmental Conservation 13 (3): 235. Abbasi SA, Nipaney PC (1993). Design and performance evaluation of a fern shredder. Journal of the Institution of Public Health Engineers 1: 38. Abbasi T, Gajalakshmi S, Abbasi SA (2009). Towards modeling and design of vermicomposting systems: Mechanisms of composting/vermicomposting and their implication. Indian Journal of Biotechnology 8: Abbasi T, Tauseef SM, Abbasi SA (2011). The Inclined Parallel Stack Continuously Operable Vermireactor. Official Journal of the Patent Office 22:

4 Aira M, Brandon MG, Porto PG, Dominguez J (2011). Selective reduction of the pathogenic load of cow manure in an industrial-scale continuous-feeding vermireactor. Bioresource Technology 102: Degefe G, Mengistu S, Dominguez J (2012). Vermicomposting as a sustainable practice to manage coffee husk, Enset waste (enset ventricosum), khat waste (Catha edulis) and vegetable waste amended with cow dung using an epigeic earthworm Eisenia andrei (Bouch' 1972). International Journal Pharma Tech Research 7: Dominguez J, Briones MJI, Mato S (1997). Effect of the diet on growth and reproduction of Eisenia Andrei (Oligochaeta, lumbricidae). Pedobiologia 41: Dominguez J, Velando A, Ferreiro A (2005). Are Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826) and Eisenia Andrei. Pedobiologia 49: Edwards CA, Norman QA, Sherman R (2011). Vermiculture Technology, Earthworms, Organic Waste and Environmental Management. CRC Press Elivira C, Sampedro L, Dominguez J, Mato S (1997). Vermicomposting of water sludge from paper-pulp industry with nitrogen rich materials. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 29: weed composting system. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 29: Gajalakshmi S, Ramasamy EV, Abbasi SA (2002). Highrate composting-vermicomposting of water hyacinth. Bioresource Technology 83: Gajalakshmi S, Ramasamy EV, Abbasi SA (2005). Composting-vermicomposting of leaf litter ensuing from the trees of Magnifera indica. Bioresource Technology 96: Ganesh PS, Gajalakshmi S, Abbasi SA (2009). Vermicomposting of the leaf litter of acacia (Acacia auriculiformis): possible roles of reactor geometry, polyphenols, and lignin. Bioresource Technology 100: Hernandez MD, Garcia-La-Fuente R, Fornes F, Abad M, Belda RM (2011). Comparing organic fraction changes of one composting and two vermicomposting processes aimed to produce quality compost and vermicomposts for soilless cultivation or as soil conditioned. ISHS International Symposium on Growing Media, Composting and Substrate Analysis, Barcelona, Spain. Pizl V, Novakova A (2003). Interactions between micro fungi and Eisenia Andrei (Oligochaeta) during cattle manure vermicomposting. Pedobiologia 47: Tajbakhsh J, Abdoli MA, Goltapeh ME, Alahdadi I, Elvira C, Sampedro L, Nogales R (1999). Suitability of Malakouti MJ (2008). Recycling of spent sludges from dairy and paper industries for growth and reproduction of Eisenia Andrei. Pedobiologia 43(6): Frederickson J, Butt KR, Morris RM, Daniel CC (1997). Combining vermiculture with traditional green mushroom compost using earthworms Eisenia fetida and Eisenia Andrei. Environmentalist 28: Tauseef SM, Tasneem Abbasi, Banupriya D, Vaishnavi G, Abbasi SA (2013). HEVSPAR: A novel

5 vermireactor system for treating paper waste.official Journal of the Patent Office

Influence of temperature on growth and reproduction of earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae

ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 7 (2013) pp. 202-206 http://www.ijcmas.com Original Research Article Influence of temperature on growth and reproduction of earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae K.Vasanthi 1, M.Senthilkumari