Abstract
Casts produced by earthworms have high nutritional value and water holding capacity and act as an excellent soil ameliorating agent. In the present study, earthworm casts were collected from three different ecological habitats of Tumakuru by hand picking method and were analyzed for their nutritional status. The earthworm casts and surface soil samples were collected simultaneously from each study site (forest area, agriculture area and industrial area) in separate polythene-labelled bags. The collected samples were examined for physico-chemical parameters. The statistical values of all the parameters of castings and soil samples have shown that the worm cast collected from the forest site contains a significantly higher level of NPK than the worm cast collected from the other two study sites. Further, the nutritional quality of forest surface soil was higher than the other two sites. Among the three study sites the nutritional value of worm casts were in the order FS>AS>IS to their respective surface soil. However, the low nutritional value of vermicast in agriculture and industrial sites might be attributed to the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides for cropping and dumping of industrial waste on the surface soil of respective sites. The study concludes that the nutritional status of earthworm casts contributes significantly to improving soil quality in a natural sustainable way.
Published Version
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