Earthworm biological traits and vermicompost production affected by plant residues types and mixing proportions

In recent years, some problems caused by intensive application of chemical fertilizer. Therefore, more attention has been paid to non- chemical fertilizers such as vermicompost. In order to study the effect of different plant residues on vermicompost production and earthworm characters, an experiment was conducted in greenhouse condition at Shahid Chamran University of Ahwaz in 2013. The factorial experiment was based on RCBD with three replications. First factor included four plant residue types (rice, maize, wheat, sugarcane with control). Second factor comprised three levels of mixing ratio of plant residues with cow manure (30, 40 and 50%). Vermicompost production and some earthworm characters such as population, weight and growth stages were evaluated during three months. Our results showed that both plant residue types and proportions of plant residues had significant effect on population and weight of earthworm. The maximum amount of earthworm weight (352.38 g) was belonged to 50% (w/w) of wheat residues. But the maximum earthworm population (7193.32) was observed in the rice residues (30% w/w). In conclusion, both crop residues types and the mixing ratio of plant residues were two important factors in vermicomposting process.