Agro-Biological Evaluation of Vermicompost Fertilizer Production from Crop Residues and its Effect on Seed Yield of Sesame

Vermicomposting fertilizer is an ecological approach that improves both yield quantity and environmental quality. This study was carried out in the field of agriculture faculty of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in 2021 at two stages. In the first stage, the experimental design was a split plot with 4 crop residues (i.e. wheat, rice, sugarcane, and corn) in the main plot and 2 weight ratios (i.e. 30 & 40%) were supplot with 3 replications. In the second stage, the experimental design was a randomized complete block with 3 replications which included 8 different vermicomposting that were produced in the first stage. Results of the first stage showed that wheat 40% residue treatment produced the highest mature worm weight due to the highest mature worm population which resulted in the highest total worm weight. For all crop residue treatments, the total worm number was reduced by the increase in crop residue quantity from 30% to 40%. This reduction was affected by the reduction in the immature worm population. Despite the increase in mature worm numbers, it could not compensate for the effects of reducing the number of immature worms. Increasing the percentage of the residue of each crops from 30% to 40%, the amount of vermicompost fertilizer production was reduced, but on the other hand, the amount of non-fertilizer compounds was added. The highest sesame seed yield (1154/6 kg/h) belonged to a wheat residue with a 30% weight ratio. This superiority is influenced by the superiority of seed weight in capsule, seed number in capsule, and seed 1000 weight characters. In conclusion, the results of this research showed the importance of paying attention to the raw material in the production of vermicompost both in terms of impact on the biological and chemical properties and on the agronomic properties of the crop. A point that is perhaps less noticed now. So, it is recommended that in sustainable agriculture or organic farming it is better to produce vermicompost fertilizer suitable for each crop.