UTILIZATION OF CASHEW LEAF LITTER AND SUGAR MILL WASTE PRESSMUD FOR THE CULTURE OF A COMPOST EARTHWORM EUDRILUS EUGENIAE (KINBERG)

Abstract

The unutilized cashew leaf litter and under utilized sugar mill waste pressmud cause environmen- tal pollution. Using cashew leaf litter (CL) and pressmud (PM) in 1:3 ratio as the basic feed sub- strate, the following treatments were prepared in triplicates on weight basis: C-PM alone; T1 CL+PM; T2CL+PM+GW (1:1:2); T3CL+PM+ Urea (10g/kg); T4CL+PM+ Tv (500 mg/kg); T5CL+PM+ Pp (500 mg/kg); T6CL+PM+Tv + Pp (250 mg/kg+ 250 mg/kg). In each treatment one kg of feed substrate were prepared in plastic trays. Ten hatchlings of E.eugeniae were cultured in each treatment and control under laboratory conditions at room temperature with 60-70% moisture. Once in 15 days, upto 90 days the weight of earthworms, worm growth rate and number of hatchlings were determined and analysed statistically. On the basis of results the efficiency of six treatments to support the growth and reproduction of E.eugeniae could be ranked in following order: T6>T2>T3>T5>T4>T1. The higher growth rate, weight gain, and hatchlings production observed in T6, T2 and T3 could be due to the addition of nitrogen as well as contribution of nutrients because of biodegradation of cashew leaves by lignocellulolytic fungi in addition to the contribution of nutrients by pressmud.