Different Species of Epigeic and Anecic Earthworms Cause Similarly Effective and Beneficial Biocomposting-A Case Study Involving the Pernicious Aquatic Weed Salvinia ( Salvinia molesta , Mitchell)

• Published in: Life (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 720
• Main Authors: Tabassum-Abbasi, Hussain, Naseer, Khamrang, Channgam, Patnaik, Pratiksha, Abbasi, Tasneem, Abbasi, Shahid Abbas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Animals; Aquatic plants; Aquatic weeds; Biofertilizers; Calorimetry; Case studies; Chemical properties; Composting; Differential scanning calorimetry; Drawida willsi; Earthworms; Eisenia andrei; Electron microscopy; Environmental aspects; Feeds; Fertilizers; Fourier transforms; Infrared spectrophotometers; Infrared spectroscopy; Lumbricus rubillus; Manures; Organic fertilizers; Perionyx sansibaricus; Production processes; salvinia; Salvinia molesta; Scanning electron microscopy; Soils; Species; Spectrometry; Spectrophotometry; Thermogravimetry; Toxicity; Vermicomposting; Weeds; Wetlands; Worms; India; biofertilizer; Perionyx sansibaricus; Drawida willsi; Eisenia andrei; Lumbricus rubillus; salvinia; vermicomposting
• ISSN: 2075-1729; 2075-1729
• DOI: 10.3390/life13030720

As reported recently by the present authors, vermicomposting by the epigeic earthworm transforms the highly ligninous and allelopathic aquatic weed salvinia ( ) into a benign organic fertilizer. The present study was carried out with four other earthworm species, including three epigeic species of different sizes and phytophagic habits: and . One anecic species, with geophytophagous habits, was also explored for comparison: . The objective was to see whether the type of salvinia transformation caused by is a general phenomenon or whether there are significant differences in the nature of biocomposts generated by different earthworm species. Accordingly, the characteristics of the biocomposts separately generated by each of the six species mentioned above were assessed with UV-visible spectrophotometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. The studies reveal that, with minor variations, the biocomposting by all four species was able to remove the intransigence of salvinia and impart plant/soil-friendly attributes to it in substantial measures. All the findings obtained with different techniques corroborated each other in arriving at this conclusion. Hence, it can be said that, in general, biocomposting by earthworms takes away the toxicity of pernicious weeds such as salvinia, converting them into plant-friendly and soil-friendly biofertilizers.