The beneficial effects of vermicast on soil fertility in general, and agriculture in particular, are widely recognized, but there are no reports on the effect of storage on vermicast quality. The present study is an attempt to cover this knowledge gap as it may assist in the formulation of guidelines for packaging and storing of vermicast in a manner that preserves the cast’s fertilizer value. Vermicast generated from paper waste was packed in airtight and partially sealed bags with and without pre-drying for 24 h. Changes in several physical, chemical, and biological properties of the castings were monitored for 3 months with weekly assessments. The results reveal that the beneficial properties of vermicast were the highest when it was fresh. There was deterioration on storage, which can be minimized if the castings are contained in airtight bags after pre-drying the casts.

Introduction: The use of non-conventional feedstuffs is gaining recognition especially in developing countries. Ensiled cattle manure with other feedstuffs has been used in ruminant feeding. Vermicomposting, a tool for manure management can be employed as a means for manure treatment with the aim of enhancing nutritive value of forage. The objectives of the study were to determine the nutritive value of cattle manure vermicast (CMV) and to observe gas production in vitro due to CMV inclusion on rice straw at different proportions.Results: Vermicomposting of cattle manure at 2, 4 and 6 weeks linearly increased (P<0.05) significantly crude protein and ash, while it linearly decreased (P<0.05) significantly organic matter, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre. The result showed that, gas production decline with an increased in CMV content (P<0.05). CMV addition to rice straw had no significant (P>0.05) effect on rumen pH and microbial crude protein production in vitro. CMV inclusion reduced dry matter degradability and increased partitioning factor at 48 h.5% inclusion level of CMV gave the highest results while 30% CMV had the least results.Conclusion: Vermicomposting of cattle manure increased its nutritive value, with increase in crude protein content and decrease in NDF and ADF. Results of in vitro gas production and rumen fermentation profiles from this study indicated that inclusion of CMV reduced gas production and DMD; however, it increased PF48, with no significant changes in MCP. Vermicomposting has the potential of being used as another tool for forage treatment and addition of CMV could be expected to reduce ruminant gas production, increase ME and microbial protein synthesis.

Ruminants have low efficiency of nitrogen utilisation, unutilised nitrogen is being excreted in the faeces and urine. The most effective way to minimise nitrogen losses in ruminant production is through efficient feeding strategy. Ruminant manure is an inevitable consequence of its production. All these have adverse environmental effects. Composting and vermicomposting have been suggested as efficient tools for recycling manure, these bring a stabilised and sanitised end product for agriculture. Composting process is an accelerated aerobic degradation of fresh organic matter by microorganism to mature compost. Nevertheless, it may bring some environmental problems by releasing gases which include ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide, reduce the agronomic value of the manure and increase the cost of composting through turning of the compost to ensure aeration. To overcome the cost of composting and produce high quality products, vermicomposting is being recommended. Vermicomposting involves the bio-oxidation and stabilisation of organic material by the joint action of earthworm and microorganism. Moreover, the combination of composting and vermicomposting has been considered as a way of achieving stabilised substrates. Ensiled cattle manure treated with straws has been used to improve nutritional quality of ruminant feed and the result was encouraging. Vermicast, an end product of vermicomposting has higher nutrients content compared with manure or composted manure. Therefore vermicomposting of ruminant manure with rice/wheat straws might have the potential of being used as feed supplement to small ruminant. The likely benefit will be an increase in feed intake, increase in microbial protein supply, increase in fibre digestibility and possibly an increase in weight gain. The aim of this review is to discuss nitrogen losses in ruminant production and manure management and to provide an insight on the possibility of using vermicast as feed supplement to ruminants and as probiotic for treating fibrous feed.

One of the best interventions to hasten seed germination and seedling development is the exogenous application of phytohormone. This study evaluated the germination and seedling development of rubber seeds in response to gibberellic acid (GA3) and organic growth media under nursery condition. The experiment was arranged in a 4x3 factorial experiment in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Growth media (including: top soil, TS; TS + rice hull, RH; TS + chicken dung, CD; TS + vermicast, VC) were considered as Factor A, and different concentrations of GA3 (0, 50, and 100 ppm) were comprised as the Factor B. Newly fallen seeds (with no defects) from existing ‘ RRIM 600’ rubber tree plantation were collected and used in the experiment. Seeds were subjected to float in GA3 solutions based on corresponding treatments for 18 h prior to sowing in different organic growth media. GA3 (100 ppm) led to the earliest emergence, highest germination percentage and normal seedlings with least mortality. The TS+VC was the best growth media influencing germination. The TS+VC media regardless of the concentration of GA3 caused 100% normal seedlings. Likewise, the combination of TS+CD as growth media and 100 ppm of GA3 also produced promising percentage of normal seedlings of rubber with 97. 33%. Seedling mortality was lessen using the combination of TS+VC as growth media and 100 ppm GA3. Generally, application of 100 ppm GA3 and top soil mixed with vermicast as growth media provoked better seed germination and early seedling development in rubber.

Introduction: Vermicomposting is the process of composting organic materials using various worms to decomposing vegetable, food waste, bedding materials and many organic waste materials. Many wastes and residues have been used to produce vermicompost. Using variety of left over products such as vegetable cuttings, food wastes and manure from cattle and chickens for vermicomposting can inhibit environmental pollution while producing valuable vermicompost. However, worms require specific conditions for activity and composting. Vermicast (worm manure) is the end product of the breakdown of organic matter by earthworms which usually applies as an organic and natural fertilizer. Due to appropriate protein and organic matter of vermicast or vermicompost, it is maybe possible to use vermicompost as a feedstuff in ruminant animals such as low producing cattle, sheep and goats. Then, the aim of the current research was to investigate the possibility of using rumen content which has been enriched with organic wastes (fruits and vegetables waste, oyster mushroom wastes) as a decomposing material for worms and nutritive value of the produced vermicompost for ruminants. Materials and Methods: Experimental treatments were T1: rumen contents (control), T2: 60% rumen contents + 40% fruits & vegetables wastes, T3: 60% rumen contents + 40% oyster mushroom wastes, T4: 60% rumen contents + 20% fruits & vegetables wastes + 20% oyster mushroom wastes. Three boxes (65×35×30 cm) were made for each treatment and 8 kg of materials and 80 grams of worms (200 worms) were added to one of them. The boxes were kept for 75 days in a room with 25 o C temperature and 65-70% of relative humidity. After 75 d, a sample of each replicated was chosen for pH and dry matter analysis. Another sample from each replicated was grounded and analyzed for chemical composition (crude protein, ash, crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber) and gas production measurement. Gas volume was recorded at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 h of incubation. The kinetics of in situ was estimated using model: P=a+b (1-e-ct ). The effective degradability of dry matter and crude protein to feed was calculated by the following equation ED = a+bc/(c+k). Rumen rate of passage k which to calculated effective degradability of this study, from rate of 2, 5 and 8 percent per hour was used. Results and Discussion: Vermicomposting efficiency was lower in T4 and higher in T2 and T3 treatments when compared with T1. The highest and lowest vermicomposting efficiency was in T3 and T4 treatments, respectively. Moreover, T3 treatment showed the highest crude protein and crude fat concentrations among the treatments. T3 treatment also had the lowest ash, crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber concentrations among the treatments. The values of pH after 75 days were 6. 76, 6. 15, 7. 55 and 7. 02, respectively. The concentrations of crude protein for T1 to T4 were 16. 50, 17. 44, 17. 05 and 18. 45%, respectively. Also, the concentrations of neutral detergent fiber for T1 to T4 were 41. 5, 40. 18, 41. 42 and 38. 87%, respectively. Moreover, the concentrations of acid detergent fiber for T1 to T4 were 27. 33, 26. 11, 28. 64 and 26%, respectively. The results of effective degradability of dry matter with a pass rate 0. 02, 0. 05 and 0. 08 with the highest in the T4, 62. 90, 46. 45 and 38. 10 percent respectively, And reported effective degradability of crude protein, with same pass rate, 62. 37, 41. 25 and 35. 12 percentage respectively (P<0. 01). The results showed that by mixing appropriate amounts of organic wastes (cellulosic resources) with the contents of the rumen to produce vermicompost with good nutritional value (energy and high protein) can be used as animal feed. Conclusion: The results of this study show that using up to 20% fruits & vegetables wastes + 20% oyster mushroom wastes in vermicomposting rumen content can produce vermicompost with great nutritive value (higher protein and lower fiber concentration) and high digestibility and energy content, which can be used in ruminants nutrition.