IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i4p1205-d141387.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Efficacy of the Vermicomposts of Different Organic Wastes as “Clean” Fertilizers: State-of-the-Art

Author

Listed:
  • Naseer Hussain

    (Centre for Pollution Control & Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Chinnakalapet, Puducherry 605014, India)

  • Shahid A. Abbasi

    (Centre for Pollution Control & Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Chinnakalapet, Puducherry 605014, India)

Abstract

Vermicomposting is a process in which earthworms are utilized to convert biodegradable organic waste into humus-like vermicast. Past work, mainly on vermicomposting of animal droppings, has shown that vermicompost is an excellent organic fertilizer and is also imbibed with pest-repellent properties. However, there is no clarity whether vermicomposts of organic wastes other than animal droppings are as plant-friendly as the manure-based vermicomposts are believed to be. It is also not clear as to whether the action of a vermicompost as a fertilizer depends on the species of plants being fertilized by it. This raises questions whether vermicomposts are beneficial (or harmful) at all levels of application or if there is a duality in their action which is a function of their rate of application. The present work is an attempt to seek answers to these questions. To that end, all hitherto published reports on the action of vermicomposts of different substrates on different species of plants have been assessed. The study reveals that, in general, vermicomposts of all animal/plant based organic wastes are highly potent fertilizers. They also possess some ability to repel plant pests. The factors that shape these properties have been assessed and the knowledge gaps that need to be bridged have been identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Naseer Hussain & Shahid A. Abbasi, 2018. "Efficacy of the Vermicomposts of Different Organic Wastes as “Clean” Fertilizers: State-of-the-Art," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-63, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1205-:d:141387
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1205/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1205/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pritam Sangwan & V. K. Garg & C. P. Kaushik, 2010. "Growth and yield response of marigold to potting media containing vermicompost produced from different wastes," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 123-130, June.
    2. M. Ashraful Islam & Sumiya Islam & Ayasha Akter & Md Habibur Rahman & Dilip Nandwani, 2017. "Effect of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on Soil Properties and the Growth, Yield and Quality of Tomato in Mymensingh, Bangladesh," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-7, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hongwei Zhang & Jianhui Li & Yingying Zhang & Kui Huang, 2020. "Quality of Vermicompost and Microbial Community Diversity Affected by the Contrasting Temperature during Vermicomposting of Dewatered Sludge," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-12, March.
    2. Cinny Makkar & Jaswinder Singh & Chander Parkash & Sharanpreet Singh & Adarsh Pal Vig & Salwinder Singh Dhaliwal, 2023. "Vermicompost acts as bio-modulator for plants under stress and non-stress conditions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 2006-2057, March.
    3. Masoume Amirkhani & Hilary S. Mayton & Anil N. Netravali & Alan G. Taylor, 2019. "A Seed Coating Delivery System for Bio-Based Biostimulants to Enhance Plant Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Alise Ose & Una Andersone-Ozola & Gederts Ievinsh, 2021. "Substrate-Dependent Effect of Vermicompost on Yield and Physiological Indices of Container-Grown Dracocephalum moldavica Plants," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Joseph Jjagwe & Allan John Komakech & Jeninah Karungi & Arabel Amann & Joshua Wanyama & Jakob Lederer, 2019. "Assessment of a Cattle Manure Vermicomposting System Using Material Flow Analysis: A Case Study from Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Dhandapani Banupriya & Tabassum-Abbasi & Tasneem Abbasi & Shahid Abbas Abbasi, 2022. "Rapid, Clean, and Sustainable Bioprocessing of Toxic Weeds into Benign Organic Fertilizer," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monika Mahajan & Anita Singh & Rajeev Pratap Singh & Pankaj Kumar Gupta & Richa Kothari & Vaibhav Srivastava, 2024. "Understanding the benefits and implications of irrigation water and fertilizer use on plant health," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(8), pages 20561-20582, August.
    2. Wu, You & Si, Wei & Yan, Shicheng & Wu, Lifeng & Zhao, Wenju & Zhang, Jiale & Zhang, Fucang & Fan, Junliang, 2023. "Water consumption, soil nitrate-nitrogen residue and fruit yield of drip-irrigated greenhouse tomato under various irrigation levels and fertilization practices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    3. Tatia Biswas & M. Ashraful Islam & Tamanna Haque, 2020. "Exogenously Applied Moringa Leaf Extracts And Mixed Fertilizers In Soil To Im Prove Growth And Yield Of Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill.)," Sustainability in Food and Agriculture (SFNA), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 42-47, July.
    4. M. Asib Biswas & M. Ashraful Islam & I. Mosaddek Ahmed & M. Mokter Hossain & M. Abdul Halim, 2020. "Different Sources Nitrogen Based Fertilizers On Growth, Yield And Nutritional Quality Of Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill.)," Acta Scientifica Malaysia (ASM), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 4(1), pages 39-44, September.
    5. Randy Carlie Pierre-Louis & Md. Abdul Kader & Nandakumar M Desai & Eleanor H John, 2021. "Potentiality of Vermicomposting in the South Pacific Island Countries: A Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Md Ashraful Islam & Golam Ferdous & Ayasha Akter & Md Mokter Hossain & Dilip Nandwani, 2017. "Effect of Organic, Inorganic Fertilizers and Plant Spacing on the Growth and Yield of Cabbage," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-6, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:4:p:1205-:d:141387. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.