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Hindawi Publishing Corporation Applied and Environmental Soil Science Volume 2010, Article ID 967526, 13 pages doi:10.1155/2010/967526

Research Article Nutrient Status of Vermicompost of Urban Green Waste Processed by Three Earthworm Species—Eisenia fetida, Eudrilus eugeniae, and Perionyx excavatus

Swati Pattnaik and M. Vikram Reddy

Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry 605 014, India Correspondence should be addressed to M. Vikram Reddy, venkateshsrinivas1@gmail.com Received 1 July 2009; Accepted 21 September 2009 Academic Editor: M. Nurul Alam Copyright © 2010 S. Pattnaik and M. V. Reddy. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Major nutrient status of vermicompost of vegetable market waste (MW) and floral waste (FW) processed by three species of earthworms namely, Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida, and Perionyx excavatus and its simple compost were assessed across different periods in relation to their respective initiative substrates. Their physical parameters—temperature, moisture, pH, and electrical conductivity—were also recorded. The nutrients—nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium—increased in the vermicompost and compost while the organic carbon, C/N and C/P ratios decreased as the composting process progressed from 0 to 15, 30, 45, and 60 days. The nutrient statuses of vermicomposts of all earthworm species produced from both the wastes were more than that of the compost and that of their respective substrates. Moreover, the vermicompost produced by E. eugeniae possessed higher nutrient contents than that of E. fetida, P. excavatus, and compost. The MW showed higher nutrient contents than the FW. Thus, vermicomposting is the paramount approach of nutrient recovery of urban green waste.

1. Introduction

The urban...