Improved performance of red worms (Eisenia andrei) in compost of cattle manure rinsed with water

To achieve satisfactory results with vermiculture, it is important to know how many times to rinse cattle manure to eliminate salts. Treatments under evaluation were 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 rinses in a tap water: manure ratio of 1 : 1 (v/v). Electrical Conductivity (EC), Biomass of Worms (BW) and Number of Cocoons (NC) were evaluated. The EC ranged from 2.57 to 0.5 dS·m−1 for T0 and T4. The lowest BW (569.33 ± 68.8 mg) and NC (0 cocoon/week) were observed with T0. The highest BW (1218.8 ± 45.28 mg) and NC (3.35 ± 1.05 cocoons/week) were recorded for T5 and T7.

Keywords: biomass, Eisenia andrei, vermiculture, vermicomposting, red worms, cattle manure, rinsing, salt removal, biomass