Kitchen waste management by vermicomposting using locally available epigeic earthworm species

Abstract

A large quantity of kitchen waste is generated in India which is either burnt, left in open or landfilled posing a serious problem of its safe disposal. To mitigate this problem all the kitchen waste can be converted into highly valuable nutrient rich vermicompost using the locally available epigeic earthworms. The biodegradable kitchen waste like vegetables, fruits, food waste etc can be cultured with earthworms to form the vermicompost by using vermitechnology. Since these vermicomposts are rich in nutrients which can replace the chemical fertilizers.  In the present study the vermicomposting of kitchen waste has been attempted using locally available epigeic earthworm species of Jammu namely Amynthus diffringens, Metaphire houlleti and Octolasion tyrtaeum. The physico-chemical analysis of generated vermicomposts was carried out and compared with each other and with that of original soil sample that has been added in vermibeds prior to earthworm inoculation and addition of kitchen waste. The average values of macronutrients in the vermicompost produced by O. tyrtaeum were observed to be the highest among all types of vermicomposts i.e. Organic Carbon (OC)- 11.66 ± 0.34% , Nitrogen (N)- 1.17 ± 0.20%, Phosphorus (P)- 2.97 ± 0.32%, Potassium (K)- 1.18 ± 0.15%, Calcium (Ca)- 0.26 ± 0.04%, Magnesium (Mg)- 0.17 ± 0.04%.