INTRODUCTION:

Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers disturbs the texture and physico-chemical properties of soil as well as affects the human health and environment (Gupta, 2005; Soytong and Soytong, 1996). Nutrients like protein, amino acids, ascorbic acid are reduced in foodstuffs by use of nitrogenous, phosphatic fertilizers in soil (Marinari et al., 2000). The biological wastes caused environmental hazards and various effects on human life and the domesticated animals, if their proper management and disposal practices are not available.

Vermicomposting is a technology through which the bioconversion of organic wastes into rich nutrients biofertilizers by the use of the earthworms ( Manyuchi et al 2013a, Manyuchi et al 2013 b, Nath et al., 2009; Chauhan and Singh, 2013). Vermicomposting as a best technology for the recycling of wastes and production of biofertilizers from different wastes by use earthworms Eisenia fetida. Earthworms have a major role in the decomposition of organic matter and recycling nutrients in natural ecosystems and are a part of a complex chain of chemical, biochemical, biologic and ecologic mutual reactions. Vermicompost, a stable organic manure produced as vermicast by earthworm feeding on biological wastes materials is an important source of biofertilizer material (Mishra et al., 2014).

Various forms of organic matter can be used for vermicomposting, including animal manure, wastes from manufacturing industries e.g. paper, sugar cane or cotton residues, kitchen and agricultural wastes, as well as municipal wastes of organic origin (Atiyeh et al., 1999). The process of vermicomposting is semi-aerobic which is carried out by special varieties of worms, fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes (Nath and Singh, 2009). Furthermore, vermicompost is the resultant matter from the growth substrate of worms which remains in the environment after the excretion of wastes through the digestive system of the worms. As a result the remnants are a collection of worm’s excreta together with organic matter and the bodies of worms which in comparison with chemical compounds, are highly valuable raw materials in terms of having nutrients, without any side effects and free of pathogens (Allahdadi et al., 2007).

Litter fall, plant litter, leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter or duff is dead plant material, such as leaves, bark, needles, and twigs that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent nutrients are added to the top layer of soil, commonly known as the litter layer or O horizon ("O" for "organic"). Litter has occupied the attention of ecologists at length for the reasons that it is an instrumental factor in ecosystem dynamics, it is indicative of ecological productivity, and may be useful in predicting regional nutrient cycling and soil fertility. India approximately produces 600 to 700 million tons of agricultural residues annually that remain unutilized. The organic waste like leaf litter when mixed with cow dung offers a better substrate for vermicomposting. The feeding activity of earthworm leads to the changes in nutrient profile of organic waste. The nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium are converted into soluble and available forms (Sandeep et al, 2017; Singh and Nain, 2014; Mistry et al,2014) The leaf litter also becomes a source of food to higher organisms such as birds feeding upon worms and insects nurtured by the litter. Furthermore, leaf litter helps capture rainwater and delay its run-off, thereby, contributing to the soil moisture and groundwater recharge (Abbasi and Ramasamy 2001).

Poultry manure is the organic waste material from poultry consisting of animal feces and urine. Poultry litter refers to the manure mixed with some of the bedding material Poultry litter or broiler litter is a mixture of poultry excreta, spilled feed, feathers, and material used as bedding in poultry operations. This term is also used to refer to unused bedding materials. Poultry litter is used in confinement buildings used for raising broilers, turkeys and other birds. Common bedding materials include wood shavings, sawdust, peanut hulls, shredded sugar cane, straw, and other dry, absorbent, low-cost organic materials. Sand is also occasionally used as bedding. The bedding materials help absorb moisture, limiting the production of ammonia and harmful pathogens. The materials used for bedding can also have a significant impact on carcass quality and bird performance. Poultry litter can be efficiently used for the crops after composting and may be taken as base for fertilizer recommendation at least in places of higher availability. (Amanullah, 2007; Amanullah et al, 2010)

Vermicompost contains plant hormone like Auxin and gibberalins and enzymes which stimulate the plant growth and make the plant pathogen resistant (Grappelli et al., 1987; Lozek and Fecenko, 1998). Vermicomposting is a suitable way for bioconversion of biological wastes into rich nutrient organic vermicomposting. Earthworms act as excellent biological agents for recovery of vermifertilizer, vermiprotein and vermiwash which stablised the agro- ecosystem, aquaculture and poultry (Dash and Senapati, 1986). The epigeic earthworm were utilize for the organic waste management (Garg and Kaushik, 200). During the vermicomposting the nutrients are released and then converted into the plants ( Ndegwa and Thompson, 2001). The significant increase was observed after vermicomposting in TK, TP and potassium content while decrease in Organic carbon, C/N ratio with respect to control (Chauhan and Singh, 2012).

Vermiwash is the honey brown in color having the heterotrophic bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes including nitrogen fixer phosphate solubliser and with the macro, micro nutrients, enzymes hormone and vitamins ( Lozek and Fecenko, 1998). The food source, due to the presence of different physico-chemical parameters, influences not only the size of the earthworm population but also affects its growth and reproduction (Chauhan and Singh, 2013). It is a very nutritious input to plants since it contains a lot of minerals, micronutrients, hormones, vitamins, antibiotics, etc. in a form which is readily absorbable by plants (Allahabadi et al., 2007).

Vermiwash, liquid manure is very useful as a foliar spray to enhance the plant growth, yield and to check the development of diseases (Anand et al., 1995; Buckerfield et al., 1999; Karuna et al., 1999; Rao, 2005; Yadav et al., 2005). Vermiwash has a great potential as plant growth media and shown to promote the growth of cereals, vegetables and ornamental plants etc (Weiting et al., 2004). The process of vermicomposting is semi-aerobic which is carried out by special varieties of worms, fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes. (Nath and Singh, 2009).

Suthar (2010) reported that the loss of carbon during vermicomposting is due to the digestion of carbohydrate and other polysaccharide from initial substrate material. Also some part of organic carbon may be assimilated by the earthworm as the biomass increase.Increase in nitrogen is responsible for the reduced C/N ratio by the change of ammonium nitrogen to nitrate. The vermicompost and vermiwash have rich amount of macro and micronutrients. Vermicomposting of agro-wastes by the help of epigeic earthworm had an appropriate alternative for safe, hygienic and cost effective disposal of municipal solid wastes and convert to good quality liquid biofertilizers. The process of vermicomposting is semi-aerobic which is carried out by special varieties of worms, fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes. Vermicompost contains significant quantities of nutrients; a large beneficial microbial population; and biologically active metabolites; particularly gibberellins, cytokinins, auxins and group B vitamins which can be applied alone or in combination with organic or inorganic fertilizers, so as to get better yield and quality of diverse crops (Atiyeh et al., 2002; Arancon, 2006 and Jack et al., 2011).

The aim of the present study is to access the physico-chemical texture of vermiwash obtained from combinations of buffalo dung, poultry litter and leaf litter before and after the vermicomposting with the help of earthworm Eisenia fetida.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Collection of earthworm:

The cultured earthworm Eisenia fetida were used in the experiment.

Collection of wastes:

The Buffalo dung, poultry litter and leaf litter were collected from local Diary, poultry farms and garden of Gorakhpur district, U.P. India.

Experimental setup for vermicomposting:

The experiment was conducted on cemented earth surface. Two kg of different combination of buffalo dung (BD) with poultry litter (PL) and leaf litter (LL) in different ratio were kept on 30×30×10 cm in bed form at room temperature in dark. Dung was used as control. The vermicompostin P Leds were turned over manually every 24 hours for 10 days in order to eliminate volatile substances. After this, 20 healthy earthworm Eisenia fetida of same age were inoculated in each bed and covered the bed by jute pockets. Moistened the vermibed daily up to 40 to 45 days for maintaining the moisture. After one week interval turned the vermibed manually up to three weeks. After 60 days granular, tea like vermicompost appears on upper surface. Only buffalo dung was used as control.

Extraction of vermiwash:

Vermiwash obtained from prepared vermicompost of different combinations of buffalo dung with poultry litter and leaf litter. Vermiwash extracted through vermiwash collecting device which is made up of plastic container. It has capacity of 5 liter and a tap at the bottom. The container filled with broken bricks, about 10 cm thickened which is followed by sand layer of 2-3 cm thickness at bottom, then filled two kg of vermicompost with heavy population of earthworms simultaneously added fresh water and a containers tap open slightly. The watery yellowish to blackish extract of vermicompost, vermiwash comes. After 1 to 2 days the process of extraction has been completed. The different combination of collected fresh vermiwash was used for chemical analysis.

Analysis of nutrients of vermiwash:

The pH and electrical conductivity was determined using a double distilled water suspension of each wastes in the ratio 1:10 (w/v) that had agitated mechanically for 30 minutes and filtered through Whatsman No.1 filter paper, Total organic carbon (TOC) measured by the method of Nelson and Sommer (1982). Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) determined after digesting the sample with conc. H₂SO₄ and conc. HCIO₄. (9:1 v/v) according to the method of Bremner and Malvaney (1982). Total phosphorus analyzed using the calorimeter method with molybdenum in sulfuric acid (Garg et al., 2006). Total potassium was determined after digesting the sample in diacidic mixture (HNO₃: HCIO₄=4:1 v/v), by flame photometer (Elica, CL 22 D, Hyderabad, India).

Statistical analysis:

The data have been expressed as mean ± se of six replicates. Student t-test was applied to determine significant (p<0.05) difference between two parameters i.e. initial feed mixture and final vermiwash. Product momentum correlation coefficient (p<0.05) was applied for the significant correlation in between different physico-chemical parameters of vermiwash and different combinations of different wastes.

RESULTS:

The vermicompost was much darker in color than originally and had been processed more or less into homogenous mixture after 60 days. The obtained final vermicompost was dark brown in color and odorless. The significant physico-chemical changes was observed in the final vermiwash of different combination of feed mixtures after vermicomposting with respect to vermiwash of initial feed mixtures (Table1-2). The significant decrease in the level of carbon, C/N ratio and pH was observed in the all combinations of feed materials. Table-3 showed that correlation coefficients in between the different physico-chemical chemical parameters of vermiwash and different combinations of different wastes used in experiment.

The significant decrease in the level of pH ,EC, TOC and C/N ratio whereas, the significant increase in the level of the TKN, TK, TAP, TCa in vermiwash of final vermicompost with respect to the vermiwash of the initial feed mixture were observed after vermicomposting (Table 1-2). The initial feed mixture of BD,PL and LL and its combinations show the basic pH range, i.e. 8.1±0.30 to 8.8±0.18 whereas, after the vermicomposting significantly decrease in the pH range 6.91±0.61 to 8.11±0.74. The highest pH 8.8±0.18 in the initial feed mixture of PL and significantly decrease pH 6.91±0.61 was recorded in vermiwash of the final vermicompost obtained from combinations of BD: LL: PL (1:1:2). In the similar way the significant decrease in EC was noticed in vermiwash compare to initial feed material. The highest EC (3.30±0.28 ds/m) was noticed in LL and after vermicomposting the lowest EC (1.27±0.26 ds/m) was observed in the BD+PL (1:1). The significant decrease in TOC (257±0.88 g/kg) was observed in BD after vermicomposting. The C:N ratio, used as an index for the maturity of organic wastes degradation also. It was observed that the C: N ratio is decreased in feed materials of all the combinations than the initial feed mixture of vermicomposting( Table 1-2).

In C: N ratio of initial feed mixture was the ranged from 36.65±0.67 to 89.82±1.26 while 11.29±0.46 to 23.92±0.62 in vermiwash of final vermicompost. The maximum decrease in C:N ratio 11.29±0.62 was observed in BD+PL(1:2). The maximum increased level of TKN 28.14±0.43 g/kg was obtained in combination of BD+LL+PL (1:1:2). Phosphorus content was slightly higher in vermiwash of final vermicompost obtained from all feed materials of different combinations of wastes. In the vermiwash the total phosphorus range was 5.01±0.44 g/kg in BD+LL (1:2) to 9.78±0.49 g/kg in BD+LL+PL (1:1:2). The total phosphorus (TP), total potassium (TK) concentration was significantly increased in the final vermiwash of vermicomposting of all the combinations of feed materials in comparison to initial feed material. The highest increased level of total potassium (TK) 9.98±0.18 g/kg was observed in vermiwash of final vermicompost of BD+PL (1:2) whereas, TP in BD+LL+PL (1:1:2) 9.78±0.49 g/kg. The maximum total calcium TCa 4.91±0.65 g/kg was observed in the vermiwash of final vermicompost of the combination of BD+LL+PL (1:1:2). Product momentum correlation shows that there was significant positive and negative coefficient (P<0.05) was observed between different physico-chemical parameters of vermiwash of different combinations of wastes (Table-3).

Table 1. Nutrient contents in initial feed mixture and final Vermiwash obtained from prepared Vermicompost of the different combinations of buffalo dung with poultry litter and leaf litter through vermicomposting by earthworm Eisenia fetida.

Parameters/ Combinations (ratio)	TKN (g/kg) Initial Final		TK (g/kg) Initial Final		TP (g/kg) Initial Final		TCa (g/kg) Initial Final
BD	5.8±0.25	10.81±0.86*	6.7 ±0.29	7.39±0.59*	4.5±0.43	6.42±0.51*	1.6±0.32	3.15±0.57*
PL $	4.4±0.38	*	3.81±0.52	*	2.46±0.54	*	3.85±0.16	*
LL $	7.1±0.66	*	7.5±0.54	*	4.7±0.54	*	0.9±0.18	*
BD+PL(1:1)	10.9±0.58	23.81±1.02*	8.32±0.79	8.78±0.78*	5.7±0.50	7.66±0.71*	1.14±0.14	4.82±0.59*
BD+PL(1:2)	10.03±0.59	27.89±1.18*	9.88±0.58	9.98±0.18*	6.85±0.53	6.92±0.68*	1.21±0.22	2.17±0.61*
BD+PL(2:1)	9.4±0.43	22.41±1.18*	8.9±0.42	9.08±0.50*	6.45±0.46	7.22±0.64*	1.29±0.16	2.27±0.37*
BD+LL(1:1)	8.2±0.75	21.3±0.75*	7.1±0.40	7.81±0.61*	4.6±0.32	5.12±0.52*	1.2±0.26	2.22±0.66*
BD+LL(1:2)	8.52±0.24	19.13±0.83*	7.23±0.13	7.85±0.60*	4.63±0.29	5.01±0.44*	1.03±0.07	1.97±0.31*
BD+LL(2:1)	7.36±0.19	20.17±0.62*	6.96±0.25	7.28±0.83*	4.56±0.19	5.26±0.588*	1.17±0.13	2.08±0.45*
BD+LL+PL (1:1:1)	8.75±0.20	22.01±0.68*	8.1±0.14	9.03±8.35*	6.09±0.20	7.07±0.45*	1.01±0.04	3.09±0.44*
BD+LL+PL (2:1:1)	8.12±0.52	26.72±0.51*	7.67±0.19	8.98±0.58*	5.14±0.65	6.81±0.38*	1.08±0.14	2.11±0.32*
BD+LL+PL (1:2:1)	8.96±0.23	24.21±0.78*	7.87±0.19	8.97±0.56*	5.19±0.14	6.68±0.59*	0.98±0.16	2.03±0.28*
BD+LL+PL (1:1:2)	9.17±0.06	28.14±0.43*	8.44±0.13	9.14±0.39*	5.74±0.18	9.78±0.49*	0.96±0.12	4.91±0.65*

Each value is the mean ± SE of six replicate. BD=buffalo dung, PL=poultry litter, LL= leaf litter.

$- The final vermiwash of PL and LL was not obtained because it is not used as feed material alone. *-Student t-test was applied to determine the significant (p<0.05) difference in between different physico-chemical parameters of vermiwash of initial feed mixture and final vermicompost. Product momentum correlation shows that there was significant positive and negative correlation coefficient (p<0.05) in between different physico-chemical parameters of vermiwash and different combinations of biological wastes.

Table 2. Nutrient contents in initial feed mixture and final Vermiwash obtained from prepared Vermicompost of the different combinations of buffalo dung with poultry litter and leaf litter through vermicomposting by earthworm Eisenia fetida.

Parameters/ Combinations (ratio)	TOC(g/kg) Initial Final		C:N ratio Initial Final		pH Initial Final		EC ds/m Initial Final
BD	521±6.08	257±0.88*	89.82±1.26	23.92±0.62*	8.6±0.40	7.15±0.12*	2.42±0.27	1.58±0.26*
PL $	381±0.52	*	36.65±0.67	*	8.4±0.18	*	1.96±0.24	*
LL $	451±12.84	*	63.52±2.54	*	8.2±0.18	*	3.30±0.28	*
BD+PL(1:1)	511±6.37	286±1.21*	46.88±3.83	12.01±0.41*	8.3±0.19	7.20±0.40*	2.8±0.34	1.27±0.26*
BD+PL(1:2)	605±12.25	315±1.19*	60.38±1.69	11.29±0.46*	8.7±0.33	7.67±0.75*	3.46±0.33	2.98±0.74*
BD+PL(2:1)	615±13.25	309±3.29*	65.38±0.81	13.78±0.72*	8.5±0.19	8.11±0.74*	2.61±0.41	2.29±0.59*
BD+LL(1:1)	682±12.08	289±3.96*	83.17±4.44	13.56±1.00*	8.1±0.30	6.97±0.74*	2.9±0.48	2.18±0.65*
BD+LL(1:2)	711±7.98	299±1.96*	83.48±0.31	15.62±0.90*	8.4±0.45	7.09±0.67*	3.03±0.15	2.75±0.86*
BD+LL(2:1)	632±13.98	301±1.84*	85.98±2.05	14.92±0.71*	8.5±0.25	8.11±0.69*	2.76±0.21	1.92±0.42*
BD+LL+PL (1:1:1)	618±12.66	366±2.68*	70.62±0.03	16.69±0.81*	8.2±0.10	7.61±0.50*	2.56±0.13	1.61±0.40*
BD+LL+PL (2:1:1)	598±17.33	372±1.45*	73.64±0.23	13.92±0.98*	8.5±0.62	7.08±0.48*	2.53±0.37	1.58±0.43*
BD+LL+PL (1:2:1)	660±10.51	342±1.21*	73.66±0.16	14.12±0.34*	8.4±0.18	7.51±0.62*	2.74±0.10	1.87±0.25*
BD+LL+PL (1:1:2)	585±22.87	398±1.12*	63.79±0.26	14.14±0.72*	8.4±0.19	6.91±0.61*	2.39±0.16	1.39±0.12*

Each value is the mean ± SE of six replicate. BD=buffalo dung, PL=poultry litter, LL=leaf litter.

Table 3. Correlation matrix (Product momentum correlation) in between different physico-chemical parameters of final products of vermiwash and different combinations biological wastes.

Parameters	TOC g/kg)	TKN (g/kg)	C:N ratio	TK (g/kg)	TP (g/kg)	pH	EC ds/m	TCa g/kg)
TOC g/kg)	1	0.7117	-0.317	0.581	0.606	-0.125	-0.119	0.197
TKN(g/kg)		1	-0.859	0.800	0.518	-0.003	0.260	0.148
C:N ratio			1	-0.587	-0.167	-0.146	-0.487	0.015
TK (g/kg)				1	0.634	0.098	0.230	0.167
TP (g/kg)					1	-0.168	-0.428	0.762
pH						1	0.315	-0.397
EC ds/m							1	-0.637
TCa (g/kg)								1

DISCUSSION:

The significant physico-chemical changes were observed in the final vermiwash of different combination of feed mixtures respect to vermiwash of all combinations of initial feed mixtures of different wastes. Nath et al. (2009) observed that the significant changes were obtained in physico-chemical properties of vermiwash of vermicompost of animal dung with agro-wastes and kitchen wastes with respect to control during vermicomposting. When organic wastes passes through the gut of worm, the nutrients get converted from unavailable form to available forms, which consequently enrich the worm cast with higher quality plant nutrient (Gupta and Garg, 2008). The vermicomposting of organic matter stablization gives chelating and phyto-hormonal elements which have ahigh content of microbial matter and stabilized humic substances (Venkatesh and Eevera, 2008).

The significant decrease in level of pH, EC, TOC and C/N ratio whereas, significant increase in level of TKN, TK, TAP and TCa in vermiwash of final vermicompost with respect to vermiwash of initial feed material were observed after vermicompostinP Lecause the it increases the population of beneficial soil microflora, destroys the pathogen of soil and converts organic wastes into valuable products (Suthar, 2007). The feed materials of earthworm have became physico-chemicaly changed after vemicomposting due to the vermic activity of earthworm Eisenia fetida (Gupta, 2005).Earthworms also play an important role in stabilization of inorganic to organic plant nutrients form and increase the soil fertility (Ranganathan, 2006). In vermiwash add the organic nutrients many times along with plant growth hormones and vitamins (Atiyeh et al., 2002). During vermicomposting increases the soil nutrients, micro-flora, and convert organic wastes into valuable products in end product (Ndegwa and Thompson, 2001; Garg and Kaushik, 2005; Payal et al., 2006). Vermicompost is an organic source of plant nutrients, contains a higher percentage of nutrients necessary for plant growth in readily available forms (Nagavallemma et al., 2004).

There was significant changed in pH from alkaline to acidic or neutral and when the pH goes towards acidic media was attributed to mineralization of nitrogen in to nitrate/nitrites and phosphorous in to ortho-phosphatase (Nath et al., 2009; Chauhan and Singh, 2013). Ndegwa et al. (2000) reported that the Bioconversion of the organic materials into intermediate species of organic acids was important for these results. Production of organic acid and CO₂ by microbial decomposition during the process of vermicomposting showed the lower pH of the feed material (Heartenstien and Heartenstin, 1981; Haimi and Hutha, 1986; Elvira et al., 1998). During vermicomposting the decrease in pH is also likely due to production of CO2, ammonia and organic acid by activity of earthworm and micro-organism in its intestine (Komilis and Ham,2006; Sharma et al. 2011).

The carbon content was significant highest in initial feed material of MSW, it may be due to presence of high amount of organic compound in MSW (Kaviraj and Sharma, 2003) and due to feeding action of earthworm and degradation by microbes in the intestine of earthworm (Kaushik and Garg, 2003; Suthar 2007; Venkatesh and Eevera, 2008). There was a huge amount of TOC was recorded in initial feed mixture that drastically declined during vermicomposting (Nath et al.,.2009). A large fraction of TOC was lost as CO₂ by during the biological activity of earthworm. Kale et al., 1982; Elvira et al., 1998; Suthar, 2007 reported that body fluid and excreta secreted by earthworm (e.g. mucus, high concentration of organic matter, ammonium and urea) promote microbial growth in vermicomposting.

The significant decrease in level of EC was observed in all combinations of feed materials. Maximum decreased level was obtained in BD+PL (1:1) combination of wastes. Garg et al. (2006) reported that there is 28% to 46% reduced EC in final vermicompos. Singh et al. (2010) observed that EC significantly declined (28.69%) in the final vermicompost during the management of biosluge of the beverage industry.

Total potassium content was increased in vermiwash of all the combinations in comparison to initial feed mixture. Benitez et al. (1999) observed that the leachiest collected during vermicomposting process needs higher K concentration. Suthar (2007) Kaviraj and Sharma (2003) observed that level of TK was increased 10% by Eisenia fetida and 5% by L. mauritii during vermicomposting.

The total TKN content was significantly highest in final vermicompost due to the process of mineralization of the organic matter (Nath et al., 2009). Hand et al. (1988) reported by that Eisenia fetida increased the nitrate-nitrogen content in cow dung slurry..According to Kale et al. (1982), nitrogen content accumulated in the earthworm cast after the digestion wastes of the earthworm. Losses of organic carbon might be responsible for nitrogen addition in the form of mucus nitrogen excreatory substances, growth stimulatory hormones and enzymes from the gut of earthworm (Tripathi and Bhardwaj, 2004; Viet et al. 1987).

Total calcium was observed significantly highest in all the final vermicomposts, which may be due to the process of stabilization in which the unavailable form is changed into available form of TCa during vermicomposting (Nath and Singh 2009; Chauhan ad Singh 2012a, b).Total calcium is significant in all of the combinations of final vermiwash with respect to initial feed mixture. According to Hartenstein and Hartenstein (1981) calcium metabolism in the earthworm gut was primary responsible for the increase of inorganic calcium in the worm cast. It may be possible that gut process associated with Ca⁺² metabolism is primarily responsible for enhancement in the content of inorganic Ca⁺² in worm cast and the higher rate of Ca⁺² mineralization (Garg et al. 2006; Suthar et al. 2008).

The significant phosphorus was observed in vermiwash of BD+ LL+PL (1:1:2) Which was probably because of the solublization and stabilization of phosphorous done by micro organism present in earthworm gut the phosphatase enzyme also increase the total phosphorous (Aira et al., 2002; Suthar and Ram, 2008). The phosphorous content was greater in final vermiwash in comparison to initial feed mixture (Mansell et al., 1981) reported that increase in phosphorous content by the breakdown of the plant material by earthworm.

CONCLUSION:

The present study is information about the management of the different wastes and production of liquid biofertilizer (vermiwash), through vermicomposting with the help of earthworm Eisenia fetida. Thus vermicomposting can be a better technology for the conversion of health hazardous wastes into valuable biofertilizer. Vermiwash as a wonderful gift from the “farmer’s friends” which ecologically safe, economic and eco-friendly as well as boost up plant yield. The vermiwash obtained from the combination of BD+LL+PL (1:1:2) have the maximum rich organic nutrients. Due to the presence of rich plants nutrients the foliar spray of liquid biofertilizer can be enhanced the growth of plants as well as suppress the pest infestation. The liquid biofertilizer is less expensive and non hazardous to environment and animal health.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Authors are thankful to Prof. D. K. Singh, Head, Department of Zoology, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University Gorakhpur-273009, UP; India for laboratory and academic supports.

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Received on 02.06.2017 Modified on 20.06.2017

Research J. Science and Tech. 2017; 9(2): 277-284.

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2988.2017.00050.X