Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Biological and Environmental Science Dept., Faculty Home Economics, Al-Azhar Univ., Tanta, Egypt
2
Environ. and Bio. Agriculture Dept., Faculty Agriculture, Al-Azhar Univ., Cairo, Egypt
Abstract
VERMIWASH is a dark-colored liquid fertilizer, which is collected after water passes via an earthworm culture column. It is rich in plant growth hormones, micro-and maco-nutrients like N, P, and K. An experiment was conducted using three earthworms’ types; Allopophora spp, Eisenia fetida and Perionyx excavates to produce vermiwash. Some chemical and microbial analyzes were performed (pH, EC, macro-and microelements, toxic metals, total count of aerobic bacterial, fungi, actinomycetes, total coliform, salmonella and shigella). The results indicated that pH of vermiwash was slightly alkaline and recorded 7.14 followed by 7.35 and 7.46 with the Allopophora spp, Eisenia fetida, and Perionyx excavatus, respectively. The electrical conductivity (EC) recorded an insignificant difference between Perionyx excavatus and Eisenia fetida it was 3.7 and 3.6 dS m-1. Using Perionyx excavatus and Eisenia fetida provided the highest total N values; 9044 and 9040 mg L-1 respectively, while the total P and K were the highest content (2627 and 2607mg L-1, respectively) when Perionyx excavatus was used. The concentration of Fe and Cu were the highest when using Perionyx excavatus with values of 16.4 and 0.21 mg L-1 respectively. The Mn recorded its highest concentration in M, Allopophora sppas 0.50 mg L-1. The vermiwash content of Cd, Ni, and Co was not detected, while the low Cr concentrations were recorded with the vermiwash resulting from the three earthworms. As well, the vermiwash obtained from the Perionyx excavatus was the highest in the total aerobic bacterial count, while Allopophora spp provided the best values for each total number of fungi and actinomycetes with an absence of total coliform, Salmonella and Shigella in all tested samples.
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