[USCC] Vermicompost

[Rufus Chaney]

Dear All:

Both redworms and earthworms are aerobic and require aerated media. This was shown in the 1970s when Hartenstein's group tested vermicomposting of biosolids. Anaerobic biosolids had to be dried out enough with bulking agents, and allowed to become aerobic, before the worms would survive in the medium. I thought this example would help clarify the question raised.

Regards,

Rufus Chaney
Beltsville, MD

Kaplan, D.L., R. Hartenstein and E.F. Neuhauser. 1980. Physicochemical requirements in the environment of the earthworm Eisenia foetida. Soil biol. Biochem. 12:347-352.
	"Survival and/or growth were used to assess optimum and potentially deleterious physico-chemical conditions in the environment of the earthworm Eisenia foetida. Maximum weight was gained between 20 and 29°C with horse manure or activated sludge as food. Maximum weight gain as a function of moisture in activated sludge occurred between 70 and 85%. All worms died within a week at pH values <5 or>9; optimum pH for gain in weight centered around 7.0 Soluble salts in excess of 0.5% were lethal, though ammonium acetate caused 100% mortality at a concentration of 0.1%; concentrations in manures contaminated by urine or cattle slurry may be lethal, while those present in noncontaminated manure, with an electrolytic conductivity of 1.5*3mmhos, support weight gain. Inorganic chemicals that are commonly used to coagulate sludges, often as a preliminary to land application, were innocuous at concentrations higher than those normally used at wastewater treatment plants. Anaerobically digested sludges are toxic to earthworms, and are characterized by low oxidation-reduction potentials; when placed upon a soil substrate the redox potential increases slowly, and though the sludge tested in this study was nontoxic at Eh values in excess of 250 mV, it provided insufficient nutriment to E. foetida to allow weight gain. With activated sludge as food, growth of E. foetida occurred more rapidly when soil was present, independently of whether it was placed as a substrate beneath the sludge or mixed into the sludge. Growth occurred more rapidly when activated sludge was placed on substrates which allowed drainage, though loam or ashed loam appeared superior to others, such as glass beads or sand; the growth promoting factor is related to the inorganic fraction of the soil."


>>> "Tim Evans" <tim at timevansenvironment.com> 12/12/06 02:37AM >>>
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Earthworms are aerobic organisms.  They exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide
through their skins.  They will survive 25% CO2 atmospheres but they avoid a
zone of elevated CO2 if they can.  Activity decreases as O2 decreases.  From
the description in Edwards & Lofty "Biology of earthworms" the digestion
does not appear to be anything like ruminant fermentation, so, given all of
this, I don't think earthworms produce methane.  I have not looked up
information about aquatic worms.

Ihssen et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2003 March; 69(3): 1655-1661. 
doi: 10.1128/AEM.69.3.1655-1661.2003 state "Thus, it is not surprising that
earthworms and anoxic earthworm gut homogenates do not emit methane"
(Karsten, G. R., and H. L. Drake. 1997. Denitrifying bacteria in the
earthworm gastrointestinal tract and in vivo emission of nitrous oxide (N2O)
by earthworms. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63:1878-1882.).

regards

Tim

Dr Tim Evans
TIM EVANS ENVIRONMENT
Stonecroft, Park Lane, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 1EU England
tel/fax +44 (0) 1372 272 172 mobile +44 (0) 7816 833 991
tim at timevansenvironment.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: Dev Chanda [mailto:chandadn at gmail.com] 
Sent: 11 December 2006 08:09
To: compost at composter.com 
Subject: [USCC] Vermicompost

Does vermicompost by deep burrowing earthworms(Pheretima elongata) produce
methane gas? I was told that they don't because they create an aerobic
environment in the soil for microbial decomposition.



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