Vermitechnology means rearing of earthworms. earthworm is friend of farmer. earthworm is doing a great job and also produced a good organic manure is called vermicompost. vermicompost is a biofertilzer. which is enhancing soil qualities. This is explained earthworm biology, importance and preparation of vermicompost, vermiwash, panchgavya and their importance.

1. VERMITECHNOLOGY
Dr.K.RAMESHKUMAR
Assistant Professor of Zoology
Vivekananda College
Tiruvedakam West
Vivekananda College
Tiruvedakam- West

2. INTRODUCTION
• Rearing of earthworms
• Darwin – Friend of Farmer
• Aristotle – intestine of earth
• Earthworm – God’s most gracious creatures – miracle
• Earthworms convert
Waste into Wealth
Trash into Treasure
Garbage into Black gold
Black gold into Green gold
Waste lands into Wonder lands

3. Scope of Vermitechnology
• Provides Vermicompost – excellent manure
• Provides Vermiwash – foliar Spray
• Supplies Organic fertilizer
• Worm casts – manure for crops and gardens
• Vermiprotein – Poultry and fish feed
• Employment Opportunity
• Enhance the Green revolution
• Convert rural and urban biowastes

4. Earthworm Diversity
• Terrestrial Animal
• Cosmopolitan distribution
• 4600 species (world)
• 590 species (India)
• Few species are used for
vermicomposting
• Research Started in 1950
• 1978 – useful to society
• America, England, France and
Japan

5. CLASSIFICATION OF EARTHWORM
• Based on the habitat
• Based on the soil layers
• Based on the feeding habits and colour
• Based on the behavior
• Based on the habits
• Based on the food materials
• Based on the place of living

6. Based on the habits
• Epigeic forms - red worm – feed on decaying organic matter – no
burrows –Surface of the earth – loose soil – vermicomposting and
vermiculture systems -Eisenia fetida
• Endogeic forms - horizontal burrows – all layers – incorporate
mineral matter into the top soil layer -within the earth -Octochaetona
thurstoni
• Anecic forms - night crawlers - feed on decaying organic matter –
organic debris to humus –
4-6ft permanent vertical burrows – mucus
- Deep soil – Lampito mauritti

7. BIOLOGY OF EARTHWORM
• Segmentation – not in external but in
internal structures
• Head – Prostomium – infront of the
mouth – used to force into the soil
• Setae – each segments – locomotion
and made in burrows
• Glands – Skin – mucus – lubricating
and burrows
• No eyes but it has cells – detect light
– sensitive to chemicals and touch as
smell
• No lungs – breaths by skin
• Digestive tract – unique features
– burrowing and feeding – ingest
soil
• Digestive tract – fluids –
enzymes – help in releasing
sugars, amino acids and smaller
organic molecules
• Molecules – absorbed by the
intestine – energy and synthesis
of new cells

8. Digestive system
• Alimentary Canal and Digestive glands
• Alimentary canal – mouth, buccal cavity,
pharynx, oesophagus, intestine, rectum
and anus
• Oesophagus – gizzard – pharyngeal
gland
Feeding
• Detritus feeders
• Gizzard – break the food into fine
particles (Worm casts)

9. Life Cycle of earth worm
• Sexual reproduction – hermaphrodite –
copulation – rainy season – morning hours
– Protandrous (Male gametes than female)
• Cocoon formation – Cocoon (Ootheca) -
Protective covering for eggs, sperms, zygote
and young ones – Clitellum – yellow to
black in colour
• Development
• Egg + sperm Zygote Blastula
Gastrula Young worm
• Hatching – 10-12 worms
• Life span – 3 to 7 years
• Life cycle varies from sps to sps

10. IMPORTANCE OF EARTHWORM
• Enhancement of he soil – decomposition and two sources – Mineral and
organic
• Changes in soil pH -Neutral or alkaline – bacteria and fungi
• Humus formation – breakdown of cellulose
• Improvement of soil quality – nitrogenous matter
• So many Diseases affected by man and cattles
• Biological magnification
• Japan – minamata disease
• Organic farming – vermicompost
Economic importance
• Laboratory use
• Food for other animals
• Research and development
• Medicinal use – asthma, diabetes and hypertension

11. Vermiculture Techniques
• Artificial rearing
• Increase the number of worms
Steps involved in vermiculture
• Site selection
• Species selection
• Vermibed
• Feedstock
• Inoculation of earthworms
• Feeding
• Harvesting

12. Site selection
• Should be
• Slope area
• Drainage facility
• Transport facility
• Shady areas of trees

13. Species selection
• Short life cycle
• High rate of reproduction and growth
• Voracious feeder
• High output of worm casts
• Resistant to disease
• Adaptable to climatic changes
• Examples – Eudrillus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida,
Perionyx excavates and Lampito mauritii

14. Vermibed
• Substratum of the earthworms
• House of the earthworms
• Containers for vermibed
• Plastic bucket
• Plastic basin
• Wooden box
• Concrete tank
• Card board box

15. Feed Stock
• Detritivore and Omnivore
• The following materials are selected for feeding earthworm
• Agricultural waste - Straw, grass clippings, coconut husk, saw
dust, paddy husk
• Animal waste - cow dung, goat, sheep
• Municipality waste - degradable material
• Industrial waste - Food industry and Sugarcane industry
waste
• Biogas waste
• Kitchen waste

16. Leaves Coconut
husk;
Vegetables and fruits waste;
Industrial waste; Farming wastes;

17. Inoculation of worms
• 100 worms are introduced pre-decomposed process
Types
• Monoculture
• Polyculture
Feeding
• Pre-decomposed feedstock
• Feed is loaded on the top of the bed
• Entire feed - Thrice in a week
• Watering is daily or alternate days
• Bed is covered by broad leaves
• Earthworms breed and multiply

18. Suitable conditions required for earthworms
• Feeding
• Moisture 75 – 90%
• Adequate aeration
• Optimum temperature 25 – 30oC
• Neutral pH
• Salinity of the soil is less than 0.5%

19. Harvesting
• Collection of earthworms from the culture bed
• Harvest in two months
• Spread a paper on the ground
• Pyramid like heap
• Heap remain in day light for about half to one
hour
• Earthworms to penetrate deep and reach the
bottom
• Organic manure removed
• Harvested from the bottom

20. Methods of vermicomposting:
1. Bin or Tray method:
• Conversion of organic waste into valuable compost in a tray.
• Worms in a bin with biodegradable bedding.
Bin or Tray- It may be wooden box, metal tub.
• Bin should not more than 18 inches deep.
• Keep bin upon bricks or wooden blocks or sheet.
• Bin kept at shady ranges 250-300 C.
• Bed made up of leaves, husk etc.
• Bed made wet by sprinkling water.
• If bin is 2x2 inch use one pound of worms (1000 worms).

21. Feeding the worms - feed includes dung, veg waste etc.
• Mark the bin into four sections, bury Scarps few inches in first
section, after 4 or 5 days the bury scarp on second like wise.
• This makes worms to move.
Harvesting - Vermicompost is ready in two months.
• The entire content piled as pyramid shape in a bright light, the worms
drive down.
• After 10-15 minutes gently collect the vermicompost.

22. 2. Wedge method:
• The arrangement of rows of vermibed in V-shaped.
• Organic waste and cow dung for vermibed.
• A layer of vermibed materials into row.
• The height of layer should 3-4 inches, breadth is 3 feet and
height is 1 feet.
• Water is sprinkled, worms released 1 kg per 10 feet length of
bed.
• Bed is covered by coconut or palm leaves.
• After one, second row is started, new row is at 450 angle to
first row.
• worms migrate one row to another row automatically.
• After one month first windrow can be harvested
Advantages:
• There is no need to separate worms only the compost

23. Vermicompost
• Manufactured from the buffalo / Cow dung & biomass used by
Vermiculture technology and Scientific Composting
Contains
• Macro nutrients
• Micro nutrients
• Vitamins
• Enzymes
• Hormones like Auxins and Cytokinins
• Beneficial Soil Microflora like Bacteria, Actinomycetes, Protozoans,
Fungi and others

24. Features of Vermicompost
• NPK level is high
• Contains Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria
• Humic acid – helpful for balancing the pH level in the
soil
• Protect ecosystem
• Reduce biological magnification
• Waste into wealth
• Micronutrients is high
• Auxin and Gibberlin – Plant growth hormones
• Physico chemical modulators
• Good secondary decomposer – Stability, Water
infiltration and water retention

25. Used For
• Gardening: Vegetable, Roof top,
herbal
• Organic Landscaping
• Agricultural Farms
• Fruit trees (Horticulture)
• Flowering Plants (Floriculture)
• Natural Lawn and Garden care
• Tissue culture Plants
• Sericulture
• Aquaculture
Benefits
• Enables efficient growth
• Increases moisture retention
• Promotes microbial activity
• Controls pest & diseases

26. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

27. Vermiwash
•Vermiwash is a Brown colored liquid fertilizer,
which is collected after water passes via a worm
culture column.
•As storehouse of nutrients and microorganisms,
Vermiwash is used as a foliar spray for crops.
•We prepare Vermiwash while maintaining high
concentrations of micro and macronutrients, plant
hormones to ensure healthy development of
plants.

28. Preparation of Vermiwash:
• Vermiwash is a liquid that is collected after
the passage of water through a column of
worm action and is very useful as a foliar
spray.
• It is a collection of excretory products and
mucus secretion of earthworms along with
micronutrients from the soil organic
molecules.
• It is a clear and transparent, pale yellow
coloured fluid.
• Worm worked soils have burrows formed
by the earthworms.

29. • Bacteria richly inhabit these burrows,
also called as the drilospheres
• Water passing through these passages
washes the nutrients from these
burrows to the roots to be absorbed
by the plants.
• Water is allowed to fall drop by drop
from a pot hung above the barrel into
the vermicomposting system.

30. How To Use
• Dilute with water (10%) before spraying
effectively on any plant
• Vermiwash should be diluted 5 to 10
times with water and then applied
• Can also be mixed with cow urine and
diluted for use as foliar spray and
pesticide as follows
• 1 litre of cow urine
• 1 litre of vermiwash
• 8 litres of water

31. Organic Farming
•Organic manure and natural methods of plant
protection
•Eco-friendly method – improves soil health and water
holding capacity – soil fertility
•Aims – production of quality and safe agricultural
products
•Popular in worldwide and global demand of products
•Components – Crop managements, waste recycling,
weed management, pest control, resistance, biological
chemicals, biological disease control, bioherbicides,
bioinsecticides and biofungicides

32. Advantages
• Supplies all nutrients
• Optimal conditions in the soil
• High yield and good quality
• Improvement of growth and physiological activities of the plant
• Carbon content-water holding capacity
• Restores pH – chemical fertilizers – acidic soil
• Healthy food
• Resistant plants
Disadvantages
• More labour

33. Panchagavya
• It is organic and made from the combination of five products
including cow’s dung, urine, milk, curd and ghee.
Benefits:
• Panchagavya acts as a growth-promoter and immunity
booster
• Safeguards plants and soil micro-organisms
• Increases Crops, vegetable and fruit production
• Various crops such as rice, a variety of vegetables, fruit crops
• Plants produce larger leaves
• Roots helps in better intake of nutrients and water.

34. Suitable For:
• Organic Farming
• All crops in Agriculture
• Herbal plants
• Flori culture
• Contract farming
Applications :
• Spray system
• Water Irrigation system
• Seed/Seedling treatment

37. Thank You….