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Earthworm species and their feeding substances have great role on the quantity and quality of produced vermicompost

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Abstract

A study was conducted to find out suitable earthworm species as well as respective feeding materials in the way of producing quality vermicompost. Two earthworm species, i.e., Eisenia fetida and Eudrilus eugeniae were used to produce vermicompost from four selected combinations of feeding materials. The study was carried out in the vermicompost shed of the Department of Soil Science in Sylhet Agricultural University, Bangladesh, using completely randomized design. Earthworm species E. fetida has performed better than E. eugeniae in terms of the amount of vermicompost produced. On the other hand, using sole cow dung as feeding material produced the highest amount of vermicompost and induced for the highest increase in earthworm number comparing with the other feeding materials used. Cow dung as feeding materials and the interaction of E. fetida and cow dung was suitable for the highest earthworm biomass. There was an indication of vermiremoval of cadmium and lead from the feeding materials while vermicomposting. The earthworm species E. fetida was found to be more efficient in removing cadmium and lead from contaminated feeding materials. Cow dung containing feeding mixtures has resulted higher content of K, S, and B in vermicompost than the others. Considering all above aspects, it can be said that vermicompost produced from cow dung using E. fetida is a suitable option for higher production of quality vermicompost.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh for providing fellowship and some financial assistance to meet up research cost towards the successful completion of the concern research. We are thankful to the authority of Regional Laboratory, Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI), Sylhet for helping in the chemical analysis of the different organic feeding materials and vermicompost samples for this study.

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  1. Department of Soil Science, Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet, - 3100, Bangladesh

    Md. Mosharaf Hossain Sarker & Md. Abul Kashem

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  1. Md. Mosharaf Hossain Sarker
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  2. Md. Abul Kashem
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Correspondence to Md. Mosharaf Hossain Sarker.

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Sarker, M.M.H., Kashem, M.A. Earthworm species and their feeding substances have great role on the quantity and quality of produced vermicompost. Org. Agr. 10, 437–448 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-020-00286-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-020-00286-3

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