Municipal Waste Degradation by Vermicomposting Using a Combination of Eisenia fetida and Lumbricus rubellus Species

Abstract

Earthworms have been commonly used for solid waste management by employing the process of vermicomposting. In this study, we used two different types of earthworm for vermicomposting and analyzed their efficacy for plant production in comparison to chemical fertilizer. The worms used for vermicomposting included Eisenia fetida (EF) and Lumbricus rubellus (LR), and we studied compost efficiency for the harvesting of spinach and turnips. The parameters we used to evaluate the performance of the produced compost on crops were variations in sprouting time, harvesting time, plant height, and plant yield. For the production of compost, the waste was collected and degraded in an environment where various parameters, including pH, moisture content, temperature, carbon, and nitrogen, were measured regularly throughout the experiment. The compost obtained from these three setups was used as a fertilizer to grow spinach and turnip. Compost efficiency was compared based on plant yield, plant height, sprouting, and harvesting time. In the case of turnip, the combination worm compost yielded 38% and 58% more than the compost obtained using EF and LR, respectively. For spinach, the EF–LR combined compost gave similar results, 17.4% and 37.9% more yield than the above two worms individually. The study’s results showed that the compost obtained by the combination of worms is more promising than the compost obtained from a single species and applied as fertilizer. Moreover, the comparative evaluation by statistical analysis confirmed that growing spinach by combined compost would be a better option compared to growing turnip, due to higher significant difference in outcome parameters.