Abstract
In the present work bagasse (B) i.e waste of the sugar industry, was fed to Eisenia fetida with cattle dung (CD) support as feed material at various ratios (waste: CD) of 0:100 (B0), 25:75 (B25), 50:50 (B50), 75:25 (B75) and 100:0 (B100) on dry weight basis. Co-composting with cattle dung helped to improve their acceptability for E. fetida and also improved physico-chemical characteristics. Best appropriate ratio for survival, maximum growth and population buildup of E. fetida was determined by observing population buildup, growth rate, biomass, mortality and cocoon formation. Minimum mortality and highest population size of worms was observed in 50:50 (B50) ratio. Increasing concentrations of wastes significantly affected the growth and reproduction of worms. Nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and sodium increased from pre-vermicompost to post-vermicompost, while organic carbon, and C:N ratio decreased in all the end products of post-vermicomposting. Heavy metals decreased significantly from initial except zinc, iron and manganese which increased significantly. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to recognize the changes in texture in the pre and post-vermicomposted samples. The post-vermicomposted ratios in the presence of earthworms validate more surface changes that prove to be good manure. The results observed from the present study indicated that the earthworm E. fetida was able to change bagasse waste into nutrient-rich manure and thus play a major role in industrial waste management.
Highlights
In Indian economy the sugar mill has an essential place and contributes considerably to its exports earnings
At this time the vermicompost started granulating on the surface which demonstrates finishing of food in the mixtures
Continuous decline of earthworms was observed in the higher mixtures of bagasse (B100) till the end of the experiment, which hints towards its toxicity for earthworms even after 135 days
Summary
In Indian economy the sugar mill has an essential place and contributes considerably to its exports earnings. India is the second largest producer of sugar and its byproducts amongst the 83 sugarcane producing countries in the world (Rao 2005). The industry succeed a very impressive gain as it has 1062 sugar industries of large to medium size as compared to 138 during 1950–1951 (Sangwan et al 2008). About 270 million tons of sugar cane per year is produced in India (Zeyer et al 2004). During the manfacturing process large amount of byproducts such as bagasse, pressmud and sugar cane residue are produced. Bagasse (B) is the fibrous waste produced in the sugarcane juice extraction process. It constitutes cellulose (50%), hemicelluloses (25%) and lignin (25%)
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