Abstract
A laboratory scale study was conducted to assess the suitability of rubber leaf litters as vermiculture substrates for Perionyx excavatus, Eudrilus eugeniae and Eisenia fetida . Earthworm mortality, their rate of body weight increase and reproduction were measured during the investigation. In E. eugeniae, E. fetida and P. excavatus , the rate of increase of body weight was 28.8, 6.2 and 5.04 mg worm –1 day –1 , respectively, in rubber leaf litter. Mortality of the adults was very high (50%) in P. excavatus when compared with that (17%) of both Eisenia and Eudrilus . Rate of reproduction in rubber leaf litter diet for both E. eugeniae (1.4 young worm –1 week –1 ) and E. fetida (1.3 young worm –1 week –1 ) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that in P. excavatus (0.2 young worm –1 week –1 ) over a period of 62 days. From our present investigation, it appeared that the suitability of rubber leaf litters as a vermiculture substrate for the species studied was in the descending order: E. eugeniae > E. fetida > P. excavatus .
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