Management of lignocellulosic green waste Saccharum spontaenum through vermicomposting with cow dung

Abstract

Saccharum spontaenum is considered as an invasive terrestrial weed spread across the world and its management possess big challenge to the research community. The current study illustrates the potential of vermicomposting for the management of lignocellulosic terrestrial weed Saccharum spontaenum under green waste management. The vermicompost experiments were done in five different mixing ratio of Saccharum spontaenum amended with cow dung 3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3 in vermireactors referred as Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5 respectively. The vermicomposting was carried out for total 45 days with one time feeding of the earthworms. The study indicates a mature vermicompost can be obtained with enhanced nutrients from proper mixing ratio. The different physicochemical parameters were observed to be varied among the reactors and between vermicomposting time significantly. The final C/N ratio was within 10–16 with highest decrease in Ref1. Earthworm growth was observed to be highest in Ref2 with percentage change of net biomass of earthworms with 34.25%. The highest TOC loss was observed to be 31.4% change in Ref2 and maximum TKN was 2.95% in the final vermicompost of Ref3. Even though the mixing ratio of Ref1 and Ref2 was found to be ideal for the degradation of Saccharum spontaenum, the other reactors also produced acceptable quality end product. The study further reveals that the earthworm species Eisenia fetida was highly suitable for the biodegradation of this lignocellulosic weed material.