EFFECTIVENESS OF THE EARTHWORM (EISENIA FETIDA) ON THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF VERMICOMPOST DERIVED FROM BARBERRY AND PISTACHIO WASTES AND ANIMAL MANURE

Abstract

The management of agricultural wastes such as barberry and pistachio is of particular importance due to the high production volume and environmental challenges. The earthworm Eisenia fetida plays an important and key role in improving the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil and vermicompost. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of the earthworm E. fetida on the physical and chemical properties of vermicompost derived from barberry and pistachio wastes and animal manure. This study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with five replications during 2022 in the city of Mood, located in South Khorasan Province. The treatments included barberry leaves, barberry leaves and branches in equal proportions, barberry branches, pistachio waste, sheep manure, sheep and cow manure in equal proportions and cow manure. After ensuring that the treatments were ready based on the appearance of the vermicompost, after 50 days, the worms were manually separated from the materials in the bed and the vermicompost product was examined for the desired traits. In this study, the nutrients including Iron, Nitrogen, Boron, Zinc, Sulfur and Manganese as well as the physicochemical traits of the treatments such as saturated moisture content (sp), pH, electrical conductivity (Ec), sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), chlorine (Cl), phosphorus (P), organic carbon (O.C), mineral matter (O.M), apparent specific gravity and true specific gravity were evaluated. According to the results, there was no significant difference between the percentage of saturated moisture, pH, organic carbon, mineral matter, chlorine, apparent specific gravity and true specific gravity among the treatments used (P<0.05). Treated cow manure showed higher concentrations of Iron (234.10 mg/kg), Zinc (2.64 mg/kg), Manganese (9.57 mg/kg) and Phosphorus (4795.35 mg/kg) compared with others. On the other hands, barberry leaves showed the highest levels of nitrogen (2.61 mg/kg), boron (18.27 mg/kg), sulfur (4700 mg/kg), sodium (5916.66 mg/kg), potassium (28250 mg/kg), and calcium (17586.33 mg/kg). In summary, the present study showed that the use of E. fetida in treatments containing cow manure and barberry leaves can release significant amounts of chemical elements required for plant growth and development. Therefore, the combination of vermicompost derived from cow manure and barberry leaves can be effective as an optimal product for use in the production of agricultural, horticultural and other plants.