Fertilization of paddy cultivation with vermicompost: a critical mini review

• Published in: Organic agriculture Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 309 - 325
• Main Authors: Dhanuja, C., Abbasi, Tasneem, Abbasi, S. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Agrochemicals; Animal manures; Bangladesh; Biomedical and Life Sciences; cattle; Cattle manure; Composting; cow manure; Cultivation; Distillation; Dung; Environment; feces; Fertilization; Fertilizers; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; India; Life Sciences; Organic fertilizers; organic production; paddies; Plant Sciences; rice; Rice fields; Statistical analysis; Substrates; Sustainable Development; Vermicomposting; vermicomposts; Worms; Bangladesh; India; Methane; Nitrous oxide; Global warming; Greenhouse gases; System of rice intensification (SRI); Rice
• ISSN: 1879-4238; 1879-4246
• DOI: 10.1007/s13165-019-00274-2

Vermicompost (VC) of different substrates, especially of animal manures, is known to be highly potent organic fertilizer but it is not known how beneficial VC is in paddy cultivation. Considering that rice is the world’s third most cultivated and consumed grain, it is important to assess the effect of VC on its productivity. Equally important is to see whether vermicompost application leads to higher or lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to synthetic chemical fertilizers (SFs). The present mini-review has aimed to assess and summarize this state-of-the-art. It is seen that only 27 studies have been reported on this subject so far, and in 18 of them, it is possible to compare the performance of VC with SF and other organic fertilizers. Half of these studies reveal the VC to be superior to all the other fertilizers tested while 39% of the studies show VC to be the second best. With the exception of three papers—two from Bangladesh and one from Iran—all other publications have been from India, representing 89% of all work reported in this field. In respect of types of VC studied, 25 (93%) of all studies have been on VC derived from cow-dung. For the remaining two studies, the VC was obtained from the dung of other cattle and distillation waste respectively. As for GHG emissions occurring from VC-fertilized rice fields, only five reports are available. In four of these reports, no statistically significant difference has been reported in the GHG emissions from the VC and the SF-fertilized rice fields. Hence, the available information is too scanty to enable any generalization.