Cow Manure Composting by Microbial Treatment for Using as Potting Material: An Overview.

Abstract

Dairy industry is flourishing in Saudi Arabia for the last two decades producing milk and milk products to meet the population needs. Simultaneously, it is also producing large amount of dairy waste (animal manure) posing a serious environmental issues. Vermicomposting (conversion of animal manure into compost by bacterial treatments) is considered as one of the safest means for efficient management and to mitigate environmental pollution issues resulting from land disposal of raw dairy wastes. The main objective of this studywas to summarize different processes of vermicomposting and identified the most important bacteria species suitable for vermicomposting using animal manure especially the cowdung. The review showed that among the different bacteria species, Eisenia fetida is the most efficient and commonly used bacteria for vermicomposting to develop compost using cow dung (dairy manure). Overall,this review has highlighted the various vermicomposting technologies, various bacteria species involved in vermicomposting, effect on soil and plant growth as well as the benefits of using compost prepared by way of vermicomposting. The study showed a lot of potential for the production of compost by vermicomposting technology using appropriate bacteria species which is safe, friendly and is associated with minimum environmental issues for safe land disposal of dairy waste (animal manure) with minimum possible environmental issues for the adjacent population.