Abstract
Earthworms and its excreta (vermicast) promises to usher in the ‘Second Green Revolution’ by completely replacing the destructive agro chemicals which did more harm than good to both the farmers and their farmland. Earthworms restore & improve soil fertility and significantly boost crop productivity. Earthworms excreta (vermicast) is a nutritive ‘organic fertilizer’ rich in humus, NKP, micronutrients, beneficial soil microbes—‘nitrogenfixing & phosphate solubilizing bacteria’ & ‘actinomycets’ and growth hormones ‘auxins’, ‘gibberlins’ & ‘cytokinins’. Both earthworms and its vermicast & body liquid (vermiwash) are scientifically proving as both ‘growth promoters & protectors’ for crop plants. In our experiments with corn & wheat crops, tomato and eggplants it displayed excellent growth performances in terms of height of plants, color & texture of leaves, appearance of flowers & fruits, seed ears etc. as compared to chemical fertilizers and the conventional compost. There is also less incidences of ‘pest & disease attack’ and ‘reduced demand of water’ for irrigation in plants grown on vermicompost. Presence of live earthworms in soil also makes significant difference in flower and fruit formation in vegetable crops. Composts work as a ‘slowrelease fertilizer’ whereas chemical fertilizers release their nutrients rather quickly in soil and soon get depleted. Significant amount of ‘chemical nitrogen’ is lost from soil due to oxidation in sunlight. However, with application of vermicompost the ‘organic nitro gen’ tends to be released much faster from the excreted ‘humus’ by worms and those mineralised by them and the net overall efficiency of nitrogen (N) is considerably greater than that of chemical fertilizers. Availability of phosphorus (P) is sometimes much greater. Our study sh ows that earthworms and vermicompost can promote growth from 50 to 100% over conventional compost & 30 to 40% over chemical fertilizers besides protecting the soil and the agro ecosystem while producing ‘nutritive and tasty food’ at a much economical cost (at least 50 75% less) as compared to the costly chemical fertilizers.
Highlights
A revolution is unfolding in vermiculture studies for vermicomposting of diverse organic wastes by waste eater earthworms into a nutritive ‘organic fertilizer’ and using them for production of ‘chemical-free safe food’, both in quantity & quality without recourse to agrochemicals
Our study shows that it can promote growth from 50 to 100% over conventional compost & 30 to 40% over chemical fertilizers besides protecting the soil and the agro-ecosystem while producing ‘nutritive and tasty food’ at a much economical cost as compared to the costly chemical fertilizers
Studies made on the agronomic impact of vermicompost on cherries found that it increased yield of ‘cherries’ for three (3) years after ‘single application’ inferring that the use of vermicompost in soil builds up fertility and restore its vitality for long time and its further use can be reduced to a minimum after some years of application in farms
Summary
A revolution is unfolding in vermiculture studies for vermicomposting of diverse organic wastes by waste eater earthworms into a nutritive ‘organic fertilizer’ and using them for production of ‘chemical-free safe food’, both in quantity & quality without recourse to agrochemicals. Heavy use of agro-chemicals since the ‘greenrevolution’ of the 1960’s boosted food productivity, but at the cost of environment & society. It killed the beneficial soil organisms & destroyed their natural fertility, impaired the power of ‘biological resistance’ in crops making them more susceptible to pests & diseases. In 1980, the U.S Board of Agriculture published a ‘Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming’ based on case studies of 69 organic farmers in U.S and reported that over 90,000 to 1,00,000 farmers in U.S had already switched over to organic farming [2] This must have gone in millions now. Importance of earthworms in growth of crop plants was indicated by the ancient Indian scientist Surpala as early as in the 10th Century A.D. in his epic ‘Vrikshayurveda’ (Science of Tree Growing) who suggested to add earthworms in pomegranate plants to get good quality of fruits [6]
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