production and effect of vermiwash and vermicompost on

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2021)10 397-413Doi 1030486IJROWA202119118981148

Production and effect of vermiwash and vermicompost on plant growth parameters of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) in Suriname

Vijantie RR Awadhpersad1 Lydia Ori1 Abdullah Adil Ansari2

Received 11 October 2020 Accepted 16 July 2021 Published online 06 November 2021

AbstractPurpose The purpose of this study was to to produce vermiwash and vermicompost using organic waste material and study its effect on the growth development and yield of tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) in field condition Method The experiment was carried out in two phases the production of vermicompost followed by vermiwash using Eisenia foetida earthworms and the cultivation of tomato plants using the same In the first phase of pro-duction of vermicompost three types of organic waste (dry grass clippings dry neem leaves and a combination of dry grass clippings and dry neem leaves) were utilized with three replications The second phase consisted of a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with four treatments and three replications in the field condition The treatments were control (C) vermicompost (V) vermiwash (W) and a combination of vermicompost and vermiwash (VW) Results The results revealed that the vermicompost produced had a dark color finely divided peat-like material with desirable soil odor and a fine smooth texture and an adequate nutritional value which was confirmed to have good quality The vermiwash produced from the different vermicomposting bins was brownish colour liquid and had all the essential macro and micro-nutrients The combination of vermicompost and vermiwash (005 kg + 005 l) significantly (p lt 005) resulted in the highest yield followed by vermiwash (01 l) and vermicompost (01 kg)Conclusion The combination of vermicompost and vermiwash as a bio-fertilizer had a positive effect on the plant growth parameters and production of the tomato plants

Keywords Earthworms Vermiwash Vermicompost Bio-fertilizer Organic tomato

Department of Agriculture Anton de Kom University Paramaribo SurinameDepartment of Biology University of Guyana Georgetown Guyana

1

2

Abdullah Adil Ansari abdullahansariuogedugy

Introduction

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) belongs to the Solanaceae family and is a popular vegetable widely grown in the tropics including Suriname According to the statistical data of the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Husbandry and Fisheries (LVV) the total to-mato production area in 2017 was approximately 119 ha with a total production of 1442-ton tomato fruits which makes tomato one of the most cultivated crops in Suriname This crop is an excellent source of miner-

als and vitamins including iron phosphorus vitamin A and C (Bhowmik et al 2012) In Suriname agricultural practices largely rely on high inputs of synthetic fertil-izers and pesticides to achieve high yield and to pro-tect the crops against pathogens and pests Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides leads to gradual loss of soil fertility and microbiological diversity (Samadhiya et al 2013) This decline in soil quality further leads to water and land pollution thereby lowering the lands worth Due to the massive application of the pesticide and synthetic fertilizers the chemical residue limits in fruits are high Although tomato is mostly consumed fresh high chemical levels in the fruits are bad for the human health Consumers are now more aware of the food they consume therefore much attention needs to be paid to organic cultivation and the use of bio-fertiliz-ers as substitute for chemical fertilizers

Presently there is a strong interest in alternative strategies to ensure competitive yields protection of

International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2021)10 397-413398

crops environment and human health Sustainable ag-riculture seeks to introduce agricultural practices that are environmentally sound economically viable and socially supportive In this context alternative sources such as microbial inoculants and compost based prod-ucts are considered to meet the nutrient requirements of crops Earthworms are known to decompose organic waste into nutrient rich vermicasts through the com-bined action of microorganisms The produced vermi-compost is reported to be rich in nitrogen (N) phos-phorus (P) potassium (K) and micronutrients with a greater rate of microbial and enzymatic activities Several researchers found that vermicompost has a positive effect on the growth development flowering and yield of plants It is also been noted that vermi-compost increases the root apparatus and the biomass production of the plants and improves the soil fertility (Manyuchi et al 2013 Zaefarian and Rezvani 2016) The by-product from the vermicomposting process which is termed vermiwash is a brownish colored sub-stance that is formed due to the movement of water in the vermicomposting units through the burrows formed by the earthworms This liquid is reported to be rich in NPK components micronutrients plant growth hormones microbes and enzymes It is used as a foliar spray that can be easily absorbed by plants (Manyuchi et al 2013 Kaur et al 2015) The foliar application of vermiwash is also reported to have pes-ticide effect plants show less or no incidence of dis-eases and pests (Verma et al 2018)

Both the vermicompost and vermiwash are used as bio-fertilizers in the practice of sustainable agriculture It is reported that the combined use of vermiwash and vermicompost have the highest plant yield with more branches higher number of capsules higher plant dry weight improved root growth parameters enhanced physico-chemical biological and microbiological properties of the soil (Makkar et al 2017) Use of ver-miwash and vermicompost enhances the quality of the crop by increasing their nutrition status that also im-proves the sustainability of commercial agriculture in a less tangible but equally important way since the main goal of agriculture is to grow food for the wellbeing of the population

Farmers in Suriname generally cultivate in poor soils Therefore for improvement in crop productivity in Suriname and most other countries massive applica-tion of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers is done This leads to gradual depletion of soil fertility and microbial

diversity Conventionally managed soils are found to exhibit a poorer microflora and a lower biological ac-tivity then organically managed soils The use of chem-ical fertilizers can result in poor soil health reduction in production and increase in incidences of pest and dis-eases and environmental pollution Recently much at-tention is paid to organic cultivation of crops by the use of bio-fertilizers as a substitute for chemical fertilizers In Suriname vermiwash production is a new method of generating effective liquid fertilizer Therefore this research was conducted to provide an insight into how to produce vermiwash from organic waste material and its effectiveness on crop production by applying it in combinations with vermicompost

Materials and methods

This research study was conducted during the year 2018 at the Anton the Kom University of Suriname The experiment was carried out in two phases the pro-duction of vermicompost followed by vermiwash us-ing Eisenia foetida earthworms and the cultivation of tomato plants The first phase involed the production of vermicompost by using three types of organic waste (dry grass clippings dry neem leaves and a combina-tion of dry grass clippings and dry neem leaves) with three replications Vermiwash was collected on day 60 and 90 and the physico-chemical properties were an-alyzed The second phase consisted of a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with four treatments and three replications in the field The treatments were control (C) vermicompost (V) vermiwash (W) and a com-bination of vermicompost and vermiwash (VW) The growth parameters were measured (plant height stem thickness number of branches root length and yield in terms of number of fruits and fruit weight) Data was statistically analyzed using a one-way ANOVA test fol-lowed by LSD test

Production of vermiwash

The Eisenia foetida earthworms (Fig 1) were collect-ed from the vermicomposting station at the Anton the Kom University of Suriname Initially the earthworms were imported from the University of Guyana in 2016 by Ramnarain (Ramnarain et al 2019) For the exper-iment a total of 450 earthworms were collected which were segregated into different age groups of juvenile non-clittelate and clittelate earthworms

International Journal of Recycling of Organic Waste in Agriculture (2021)10 397-413 399

Fig 1 Eisenia foetida Earthworm

Construction of vermiwash units and extraction

Vermiwash units were adapted with a few modifi-cations based on the design from Ramnarain in 2016 (Ramnarain et al 2019) Plastic barrels of 20 liters were used and a hole was made at the bottom side to fit a tap and to regulate the water supply (Fig 2a) The culture bed was prepared which is as follows 1st layer (basal layer) Broken brickspebbles (45 cm) on top of this a layer coarse sand was set up (45 cm) to ensure prop-er drainage 2nd layer on top of the basal layer a layer loamy soil (8 cm) was set and moistened In this layer 50 earthworms were introduced per bucket 3th layer

Fig 2b Vermiwash bucket with sprinklerFig 2a Culture bed of a vermiwash bucket

The feed consisted of freshdry cattle dung that was scattered up to a thickness of 45 cm followed by dry grass clippings or dry neem leaves or a combination of both The tap was kept open for the next 60 days and the unit was kept moist On day 60 the tap was closed and on top of the barrel a bottle was hanged as a sprinkler of water (Fig 2b) About 1 liter of water (the volume of water is 120 of the size of the barrel) was poured in the bucket and allowed to gradually sprinkle on the barrel overnight The tap of the unit was opened the next day and vermiwash was collected Subsequently vermi-wash was collected when needed

Experimental design

The experiment was conducted in the vermicomposting units at the AdeKUS University behind building 7 at the Leysweg Paramaribo The experiment consisted of

three treatments and three replications set up in 9 buck-ets (Fig 3) as followsTreatment 1 Dry grass clippingsTreatment 2 Dry neem leavesTreatment 3 Dry grass clippings and dry neem leaves


The earthworms were fed twice a week with cattle dung and according to the treatment with grass or neem or both The vermiwash units were watered every two days

Observation and measurements

The temperature pH and moisture content of the units were measured on a weekly basis during the process of vermicomposting till day 90 The temperature was measured with a thermometer The moisture con-tent was measured with a moisture meter The mois-ture ranges were as follows 10-40 (dry) 40-80 (moist) 80-100 (wet) The pH was measured with a soil pH-meter After 30 days the color change of the vermiwash was observed and noted till day 90

Physico-chemical analysis

The chemical analyses (AOAC 2019) were conducted for the vermiwash (harvested on 60 and 90 days) ver-micompost (harvested from the different treatments) and vermicompost produced from paddy straw The following parameters were analyzed using the methods described according to the laboratory standards of the soil laboratory of the Anton de Kom University of Su-riname Temperature (REOTEMP FG20P Backyard Com-

post Thermometer Fahrenheit with Basic Com-posting) Compost moisture (NRG MS810 Soil Moisture

Sensor IndoorOutdoor pH-H2O (pH and EC meter Kelway

Fig 3 Schematic overview of the experimental design of vermiwash units

CEC (Spectrophotometric method Electrical conductivity (EC) ndash (Conductivity meter

Kelway Organic Carbon (Walkley and black method) Total nitrogen (Kjeldahl method) Total and exch phosphorus (Colorimetric meth-

od-Spectrophotometric Total and exch Potassium (Atomic spectrometer Total and exch micro-nutrients Magnesium Cal-

cium and Sodium (Atomic Absorption Spectropho-tometer)

Cultivation of tomato plants

The second experiment (cultivation of tomato plants) was carried out from April 2018 - July 2018 as Field experiment in pots (F)

The experiments were set up as two separate Ran-domized Block Designs (RBD) with four treatments and three replications Each block consisted of four rows with seven plants per row

The treatments were as follows Control treatment (C) Plants fertilized with 100 g vermicompost (V) Plants fertilized with 100 ml vermiwash (W Plants fertilized with 50 g vermicompost and 50

ml vermiwash (VW)The tomato seeds of the variety Delhi 501 were

sown in seed trays in potting soil The germination rate was 96 Three weeks after germination on the 01 May 2018 the seedlings (Fig 4) were transplanted for different treatments


Fig 4 Seedlings

The medium used for the experiment was a mixture of shells and compost (11) This mixture was analyzed at the beginning and the end of the experiment on the variables pH CEC organic C tot N tot P exch P tot K exch K tot Na tot Mg exch Mg tot Ca exch Ca

Before transplanting the plant pots were irrigated and plant holes were made For the vermicompost treat-ment vermicompost produced from rice straw harvest-ing from the existing vermicompost unit was used Af-ter the analyses of the vermiwash it was revealed that the vermiwash obtained from the grass and neem treat-ment had the highest nutrient content and therefore it was used for this experiment

The experiment was carried out as follows1 The plants for the control treatment were trans-

planted in the soil mixture2 In the plant pots for vermicompost treatment 01

kg of vermicompost (Fig 5) was placed in the plant holes after which the tomato plants were transplanted

3 In the plant pots for vermiwash treatment 01 l of vermiwash (Fig 6) was added after which the to-mato plants were transplanted

4 In the plant pots for vermicompost and vermiwash treatment 005 kg of vermicompost and 005 l of vermiwash were added in the plant holes after which the tomato plants were transplanted

The tomato plants were fertilized at transplanting Afterwards the tomato plants were fertilized at an in-terval of two weeks According to the treatment the plants were fertilized with 01 kg of vermicompost per plant or 01 l of vermiwash per plant or combination of vermicompost and vermiwash in the ratio of 5050 01 l of vermiwash was added as a foliar spray three times within the two-week period The tomato plants

were fertilized four times during the cultivation period The total amount of fertilizer added per plant is shown in Table 1

Fig 5 Measurement of 01 kg of vermicompost

Fig 6 Measurement of 01 l of vermiwash

The temperature and relative humidity in the green-house was measured with a temperature and relative humidity data logger The climatic parameters for the field experiment was collected from the metrological service Suriname

During the cultivation of the tomato plants mea-surements were done once a week until the second har-vest The parameters that were recorded included Number of branches Plant height Stem thickness Root length at the end of the experiment At the end of the experiment the biomass was de-

termined in particular wet and dry weight of the shoots and roots

To measure the effect of vermiwash on the produc-tion the following parameters were recorded

a Number of fruits per plantb Weight of fruits per plant

Fruits were harvested when a slight color change was observed from green to yellow


Table 1 Total amount of fertilizer added per plantSymbols Treatment Total amount added per plantC Control (soil) 0V Vermicompost 04 kgW Vermiwash 04 lVW Vermicompost and vermiwash 02 kg + 02 l

Results and discussion

Production of vermicompost and vermiwash

The average temperature measured in the vermicom-post bins during the twelve weeks of composting is shown in Fig 7

The average temperature and the fluctuation for the treatments recorded was 273 plusmn 05 for grass followed by 271 plusmn 04 for neem and 272 plusmn 03 for grass and neem According to Pandit et al (2012) the tempera-ture was in the range of the optimal temperature 25 ndash 30 for growth of earthworms

Fig 7 Average temperature in the vermicompost bins during twelve weeks of composting

The average pH measured in the vermicompost bins during the twelve weeks of composting is shown in Fig 8

The pH for all the three treatments varied from 53 ndash 70 until it was almost neutral Several researchers found that worms can survive in a pH range of 5-9 and that the worms prefer a pH of 7 or slightly higher (Adhikary 2012)

The average moisture content measured in the ver-micompost bins during the twelve weeks of composting is shown in Fig 9

The moisture content for the three treatments var-ied between 80 - 97 which is agrement with Edwards and Bohlen (1996) According to Edward and Bohlen

(1996) the ideal moisture content range is between 70-90 with an optimum moisture content of 85

As shown in Fig 10a and 10b the vermicompost harvested was a finely divided peat-like material with excellent structure porosity aeration drainage and moisture holding capacity (Maheswari et al 2016 Ansari and Ismail 2012) The vermicompost was dark colored with a desirable soil odour and a fine smooth texture There were also cocoons seen in the compost-ing bins

The physico-chemical properties of vermicompost collected from the vermiwash units and the existing vermicompost unit (rice straw) is shown in Table 2

According to the results the highest and lowest pH were 650 and 590 resp in the vermicompost pro-duced from neem and rice straw The observed reduc-tion during the vermicomposting process is in line with Ramnarain et al (2018) and Jaikishun et al (2014) Slightly acidic pH is characteristic of good quality com-post (Jaikishun et al 2014) Earthworm and microbial decomposition of organic matter during vermicompost-ing leads to production of high concentrations of CO2 and organic acids which regulates and shifts the pH of vermicompost towards neutrality (Garg and Kaushik 2004) Another reason for the pH reduction is attributed to the biotic conversion of organic matter to different


Fig 8 Average pH in the vermi-compost bins during the twelve weeks of composting

Fig 9 Average moisture content in the vermicompost bins during the twelve weeks of composting

Fig 10b Vermicompost of the bins fed with grassFig 10a Vermicompost of the bins fed with neem leaves

intermediate materials intensive mineralization of or-ganic nitrogen to nitrate and nitrite and phosphorous to orthophosphates The pH reduction is an important factor for maintenance of nitrogen because at an alka-line pH the nutrient volatilizes in the form of ammo-niac gas (Zarei et al 2018) Based on the results the highest EC (963 dSm) was noted in the vermicompost produced from rice straw and the lowest (476 dSm) in the vermicompost produced from grass Electrical con-

ductivity is dependent on freely available minerals and ions generated during digestion and excretion by earth-worms which increases the concentration of available ions (Zarei et al 2018)

The results showed that the highest values of organ-ic matter and carbon were in vermicompost produced from the combination of grass and neem (5740 and 2870 respectively) and the lowest values were measured in vermicompost produced from grass which


Table 2 Physico-chemical properties of vermicompost obtained from the different treatments

TreatmentParameters Grass Neem Grass + Neem Rice strawpH H2O 630 650 630 590EC (dSm) 476 534 536 963CEC-unbuffered (meq100g) 3767 4719 4282 4051Org C () 1646 2419 2870 1685Org stof () 3292 4839 5740 3371Tot N () 141 177 161 135Tot P () 061 071 068 049P-bray () 013 014 014 011Tot K () 026 029 025 022Exch K (ppm) 994 1182 1104 644Tot Ca () 057 066 056 078Exch Ca (ppm) 1170 2458 1994 3169Tot Mg () 031 027 026 018Exch Mg (ppm) 594 1112 948 760Tot Na () 004 003 003 004Exch Na (ppm) 035 074 138 086CN ratio 1167 1367 1783 1248

were 3292 and 1646 respectively CN ratio (1783) was observed higher in the vermicompost pro-duced from the combination of grass and neem and the lowest value was in the vermicompost produced from grass All vermicompost showed a reduction of CN ra-tio in comparison to the feed used which is one of the most widely used indicator of organic waste maturity (Dominguez and Edwards 2011) The loss of carbon as carbon dioxide through microbial respiration and simultaneous addition of nitrogen by earthworms in the form of mucus and nitrogenous excretory material lowered the CN ratio of the substrate which is most essential in the humification process (Zarei et al 2018)

The highest concentrations of N P K exch P and exch K (177 071 014 029 1182 ppm re-spectively) were observed in the vermicompost produced from neem and the lowest concentration (135 049 011 022 644 ppm respectively) in the vermicom-post produced from rice straw The quality of vermicom-post and nutritional value depends on the nature of the organic material used as a feed for the vermicomposting process (Zarei et al 2018 Kaur et al 2015) The results of the vermicompost are in line with the literature re-view It has a desirable smell balances pH low electrical conductivity high cation exchange capacity and concen-trations of available nutrients (Zarei et al 2018)

Fig 11 Color change of the obtained vermiwash


The color change of the liquid extracted from the vermicomposting bins are shown in Fig 11 The color of the liquid changed from transparent to light yellow to brown correlated with the maximum nutrient content of vermiwash (Prabina et al 2018)

The physico-chemical properties of vermiwash harvest-ed at 60 and 90 days of composting is shown in Table 3

The results of the physico-chemical properties at day 60 were similar except for the total phosphorus (P) The vermiwash harvested from the grass + neem treatment had the highest P value followed by neem treatment and grass treatment respectively (70 ppm 63 ppm and 35 ppm) Based on these results the vermi-wash harvested from the grass + neem treatment was

Table 3 Physico-chemical properties of vermiwash harvested at 60 days and 90 days of composting

Physico-chemical properties of Vermiwash

60 days 90 days

Treatment Treatment

Parameters Grass Neem Grass + Neem Grass Neem Grass + NeempH H2O 720 690 730 740 750 730EC (dSm) 909 961 893 869 884 885Tot N (ppm) 21200 25600 21600 24600 30300 23600Tot P (ppm) 3500 6300 7000 3407 6409 7180Tot K (ppm) 127451 114887 132763 127863 105497 105604Tot Ca (ppm) 33083 27175 25817 25470 29208 23301Tot Mg (ppm) 36213 31300 21054 30698 28022 23943Tot Na (ppm) 37687 37358 24516 34348 35535 29458

used for further experiment for the cultivation of toma-to plants The physico-chemical properties of vermi-wash harvested at day 90 had approximately the same nutrition content as the vermiwash harvested on day 60 From these results it can be concluded that the nutrient status of vermiwash was stabilized during vermiwash production

The analyses of the vermiwash indicated the pres-ence of nutrients in a significant quantity which is confirmed by Ansari and Sukhraj (2010) and Kaur

et al (2015) Although it had to be noted that several researches found different nutritional value for vermi-wash the nutrient value is dependent on the organic feed used for the vermicomposting process (Kaur et al 2015 Zarei et al 2018)


The average day temperature and humidity in the field is shown in Fig 12

Fig 12 Average day temperature and humidity in the field during the cultivation period


Based on the results of the day temperature in the field the highest temperature was 2781 and the lowest 2687 while the maximum humidity was 84 and the minimum 7414 The day temperature was between the optimum ranges in the field condtion The optimal range for relative humidity during the entire growth stages of tomato plants is between 50 - 70 Some studies showed that a relative humidity around 60 en-

Table 4 Physico-chemical properties of the soil at the beginning and end of the experiment

Parameters BeginEnd of the experiment

TreatmentFC FV FW FVW

pH H2O 810 830 810 820 800EC (dSm) 240 234 298 272 311

CEC-unbuffered (meq100g) 848 965 949 923 990

Org C () 429 389 399 376 410Org stof () 857 778 799 753 820Tot N () 024 022 022 021 024Tot P () 001 002 004 003 005P-bray (ppm) 650 500 3200 5200 8800Tot K () 005 007 009 009 007Exch K (ppm) 013 008 011 011 026Tot Ca () 621 626 897 784 637Exch Ca (ppm) 1166 942 984 982 839Tot Mg () 018 015 020 016 015Exch Mg (ppm) 366 257 296 303 260Tot Na () 036 031 033 027 027

hances the pollination in tomato cultivation (Shamshiri et al 2018) According to this the relative humidity in the field was above the optimal range It should be noted that the average relative humidity of Suriname is above 70

The physico-chemical properties of the soil at the beginning and at the end of the experiment are shown in Table 4

The soil analysis at the beginning of the experiment showed that the pH was alkaline The physico-chemi-cal properties of the soil were acceptable for the cultiva-tion of the tomato plants At the end of the experiment a mixed sample was taken from each treatment to deter-mine the nutrient values At the end of the experiment the nutrient values of the treated soils for Exchangeable P K Ca and Mg in the field were slightly higher than the nutrient value of the soil at the beginning of the ex-periment As reported by researchers the combination of vermicompost and vermiwash has a positive effect on the biochemical characteristics of the soil that results in marked improvement in soil physical and chemical properties (Ansari and Sukhraj 2010 Tharmaraj et al 2011) It is also reported that vermicompost has en-zymes that breakdown the organic matter in soil to re-lease the nutrients so it rejuvenates the depleted soil fertility increases the water holding capacity main-

tains the soil quality and enriches the nutrient composi-tion (Adhikary 2012 Prabina et al 2018)

Field experiment

The results of the field experiment showed that the tall-est plants had a height of 9571 plusmn 932 cm (VW) and the shortest plants had a height of 80 plusmn 1249 cm (C) (Fig 13 and Table 5) but the maximum (7845 cm) increase was found for W plants and the minimum (6548 cm) for C plants (Table 5) The LSD test showed that there was indeed a significant difference between the treated and the control plants (p lt 005) (Table 5) There was no significant difference between the treated plants (p gt 005) (Table 5) However as can be seen in Fig 13 during the cultivation period the VW plants were the tallest followed by the W and V plants


Fig 13 Average plant height of the plants (cm) in the field during the cultivation period

Table 5 Plant height (Mean plusmn SEM) and increase (cm)

TreatmentWeek C V W VW1 1452 plusmn 163 1602 plusmn 210 1517 plusmn 205 1795 plusmn 1872 1755 plusmn 233 2169 plusmn 239 1876 plusmn 226 2352 plusmn 2343 2162 plusmn 353 2798 plusmn 454 2724 plusmn 400 3248 plusmn 3834 2860 plusmn 566 3985 624 4119 plusmn 431 4314 plusmn 3775 3585 plusmn 829 5405 plusmn 402 6002 plusmn 585 6286 plusmn 4966 4233 plusmn 997 6376 plusmn 355 7129 plusmn 354 7852 plusmn 6027 5490 plusmn 1261 7295 plusmn 544 8019 plusmn 781 8352 plusmn 5378 6456 plusmn 1254 7733 plusmn 476 8867 plusmn 876 8800 plusmn 8799 7292 plusmn 1268 8362 plusmn 467 9100 plusmn 883 9257 plusmn 80610 8000 plusmn 1249 8943 plusmn 466 9362 plusmn 933 9571 plusmn 932Increase (cm) 6548 7340 7845 7776Increase () 8200 8200 8400 8100Ranking a b bc c

Note The different letters of the ranking are significant different at Ple005 according to LSD multiple range test Treatment codes C = Control

V = Vermicompost W = Vermiwash VW = Vermicompost +Vermiwash

According to the results of the field experiment the thickest (119 plusmn 010 cm) and thinnest (075 plusmn 009 cm) stem plants were resp in treatments VW and C (Fig 14 and Table 6) but the maximum increase of 083 cm was recorded for W plants and the minimum increase of 044 cm for C plants (Table 6)

The LSD test showed that there was a significant difference among the treated and the control plants (p

= 0000) (Table 6) There was no significant difference among the treated plants (p lt 005) (Table 6) As seen in Fig 14 during the cultivation period the VW plants were the thickest followed by W and V plants of which the maximum (085 cm) increase was recorded for the W plants (Table 6)

The results of the field experiment showed that at harvest time the maximum number of branches was re-


Fig 14 Average stem thickness of the plants (cm)

Table 6 Stem thickness (Mean plusmn SEM) and increase in cm

TreatmentWeek C V W VW1 031 plusmn 003 032 plusmn 003 030 plusmn 002 035 plusmn 0042 038 plusmn 006 053 plusmn 006 045 plusmn 005 051 plusmn 0043 044 plusmn 005 061 plusmn 012 055 plusmn 008 067 plusmn 0044 051 plusmn 009 072 plusmn 007 074 plusmn 007 076 plusmn 0065 055 plusmn 008 080 plusmn 008 088 plusmn 007 085 plusmn 0076 060 plusmn 008 094 plusmn 006 098 plusmn 009 101 plusmn 0107 065 plusmn 009 098 plusmn 013 105 plusmn 010 106 plusmn 0108 068 plusmn 007 104 plusmn 006 108 plusmn 011 109 plusmn 0119 075 plusmn 009 113 plusmn 009 115 plusmn 010 119 plusmn 01010 075 plusmn 009 113 plusmn 009 115 plusmn 010 119 plusmn 010Increase (cm) 044 081 085 083Increase () 5900 7200 7400 7000Ranking a b b b



corded for V plants (23 plusmn 459) and the minimum for the C plants (12 plusmn 05) which also had the maximum increase of 18 branches and minimum of 8 branches (Fig 15) The LSD test showed that there was a signif-icant difference between the treated and control plants (p = 0000) (Table 7) There was also a significant dif-ference between the W and VW plants (p = 0034) while there was no significant difference between the V and W plants (p = 0486) and the V and VW plants

(p = 0154) (Table 7) During the cultivation period the VW plants had the most branches and also a bushier appearance than the V plants It should be taken in con-sideration that at harvest time the old branches were removed to prevent fungal growth which could be the reason for the obtained maximum branches for the V plants

The LSD test for shoot fresh and dry weight showed that there was a significant difference between the treat-


Table 7 Average number of branches per plant (Mean plusmn SEM)

TreatmentWeek C V W VW1 064 plusmn 371 050 plusmn 462 056 plusmn 371 050 plusmn 4622 086 plusmn 467 059 plusmn 638 068 plusmn 552 058 plusmn 6333 097 plusmn 589 101 plusmn 786 094 plusmn 776 072 plusmn 8144 073 plusmn 743 094 plusmn 1027 093 plusmn 1114 077 plusmn 11005 105 plusmn 840 150 plusmn 1295 175 plusmn 1348 153 plusmn 14146 121 plusmn 907 201 plusmn 1433 241 plusmn 1471 154 plusmn 16817 136 plusmn 1046 238 plusmn 1638 311 plusmn 1738 225 plusmn 20528 085 plusmn 1074 219 plusmn 2071 317 plusmn 2019 447 plusmn 21909 386 plusmn 1218 240 plusmn 2281 402 plusmn 2043 459 plusmn 224310 386 plusmn 1218 229 plusmn 2348 378 plusmn 2119 459 plusmn 2243Ranking a bc b c



Fig 15 Average number of branches of the plants

ments (p = 0000) (Table 8) The highest average shoot fresh weight was recorded for the V plants (1246 plusmn 020 g) and the lowest for the C plants (179 plusmn 04 g) (Table 8) while the highest average dry weight was observed for the VW plants (365 plusmn 026 g) and the lowest for the C plants (62 plusmn 042 g) (Table 8) Moisture content was observed the highest for the V plants (930 g) and the lowest for the C plants (117 g) (Table 8)

The average root fresh and dry weights are shown in Table 9 According to the LSD test for the root fresh weight there was a significant difference between the treated and control plants (p lt 005) and between the W and VW plants (p = 005) There was no significant difference between the V and W plants (p = 0643) and the V and VW plants (p = 010)


Table 8 Shoot fresh ndash and dry weight (Mean plusmn SEM) in grams and moisture content

Treatment Shoot Fresh weight(Mean plusmn SEM)

Shoot Dry weight(Mean plusmn SEM)

Moisture content ()

C 179 plusmn 040 b 62 plusmn 042 b 117V 1246 plusmn 020 c 316 plusmn 021 c 930W 1142 plusmn 040 d 320 plusmn 042 d 822VW 1172 plusmn 036 e 365 plusmn 026 e 807

Note Values followed by different letters are significantly different at Ple005 according to LSD multiple range test Treatment codes C=Con-

trol V=Vermicompost W=vermiwash VW=Vermicompost+Vermiwash

As for the root dry weight there was a significant difference between the treated and control plants (p lt 005) There was a significant difference between the treated plants (p gt 005) except for the V and W plants (Table 9) As shown in Fig 16 the VW plants also had a better root development

The average root length is shown in Table 10 The roots of the V plants (5667 plusmn 569 cm) were the lon-



Table 9 Root fresh and dry weight (Mean plusmn SEM) in grams and moisture content

Treatment Root Fresh weight(Mean plusmn SEM)

Root Dry weight(Mean plusmn SEM)

Moisture content()

C 1000 plusmn 200 a 300 plusmn 100 a 700V 11533 plusmn 2178 b 7333 plusmn 737 b 4200W 9733 plusmn 1168 b 7100 plusmn 520 b 2633VW 24067 plusmn 8810 c 15067 plusmn 7104 c 9000

Fig 16 Root development of the different treatments

gest followed by the W plants (5433 plusmn 907 cm) VW plants (4500 plusmn 721 cm) and C (3033 plusmn 252 cm) plants (Table 10) The results of the LSD test showed that there was a significant difference between the treat-ed and control plants (p = 0000) and between the V and VW plants (p = 0062) There was no significant difference between the V and W plants (p = 0675) and the W and VW plants (p = 0120) (Table 10)


Table 10 Root length in cm (Mean plusmn SEM)

Treatment Root length (Mean plusmn SEM)

C 3033 plusmn 252 a

V 5667 plusmn 569 bW 5433 plusmn 907 bc

VW 4500 plusmn 721 cNote Values followed by different letters are significantly different

at Ple005 according to LSD multiple range test Treatment codes C

= Control V = Vermicompost W = Vermiwash VW = Vermicom-

post+Vermiwash

The bloom initiation in the field experiment was seen three weeks after transplanting and well for all the VW plants followed by 60 of the V plants and 40 of the W plants which means that the fertilization re-sulted in early flowering During the period of the ex-periment the C plants were yellow and had no fruits The results of the LSD test for the number of fruits and fruit weight showed that all the treatments were signifi-cantly different from each other (p lt 005) (Table 11)

Table 11 Number of fruits ndash and fruit weight (kg) per plant (Mean plusmn SEM)



Treatment Number of fruits per plant (Mean plusmn SEM)

Fruit weight per plant (kg) (Mean plusmn SEM)

C - -

V 2543 plusmn 361 a 129 plusmn 018 a

W 3286 plusmn 286 b 167 plusmn 015 b

VW 3881 plusmn 041 c 192 plusmn 020 c

The VW plants had the highest average yield per plant with 3881 plusmn 041 fruits with an average fruit weight per plant of 192 plusmn 020 kg and V plants had the lowest average yield per plant with 2543 plusmn 361 fruits with an average fruit weight per plant of 129 plusmn 018 kg (Table 11) The biggest fruits were observed for the VW plants (541 cm) followed by W (513 cm) and V (492 cm) (Table 12) (Fig 17)

Table 12 Average fruit diameter (cm)

Fruit diameterTreatment Big RegularC - -V 492 463W 513 471VW 541 492

Economic analyses

The cost of production of vermicompost and vermi-

Fig 17 Difference in fruit diameter between the treatments in the field

wash were 581 Surinames dollars per kg (041 USD) and 261 Surinames dollars per kg (018 USD) Based on the the cost analysis of vermicompost and vermi-wash it can be concluded that the orgnaic cultivation

of tomatoes can be environmentaly sustainable cost effective and stands a better chance in commercial markets


Conclusion

From this research study it can be concluded that the vermicomposting process with dry grass clippings dry neem leaves and combination of dry grass clippings and dry neem leaves using Eisenia foetida earthworms was successful The produced vermicompost had a dark color finely divided peat-like material with desirable soil odor and fine smooth texture and an adequate nu-tritional value which confirms that the vermicompost was of good quality The produced vermiwash from the different vermicomposting bins was a brownish colored liquid It also had all the essential macro and micro plant nutrients like N P K Ca Mg and Na which in-dicates the achievement of an environmentally friendly enriched nutrient liquid fertilizer for sustainable agri-culture Vermicompost vermiwash and the combina-tion of vermicompost and vermiwash as a bio-fertilizer had a positive effect on the plant growth parameters and production of the tomato plants The combination of vermicompost and vermiwash resulted in the highest yield followed by vermiwash and vermicompost The climatic conditions in the field were optimal for tomato production which had led to a higher production and bigger fruits The analysis of the soil before and after harvesting tomato fruits resulted in minor difference of the elements in the soil The combination of vermi-compost and vermiwash was notable in enriching the soil with available phosphates and potassium elements

Compliance with ethical standards Conflict of interest The authors declare that there are no con-

flicts of interest associated with this study

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons Attribution 40 International License (http

creativecommonsorglicensesby40) which permits unrestrict-

ed use distribution and reproduction in any medium provid-

ed you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the

source provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indi-

cate if changes were made

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Ansari AA Sukhraj K (2010) Effect of vermiwash and vermi-compost on soil parameters and productivity of okra (Abel-

moschus esculentus) in Guyana African J Agr Res 5(14) 1794-1798 httpsdoiorg105897ajar09107

Ansari AA Ismail SA (2012) Role of earthworms in vermitech-nology J Agric Tech 8(2) 403-415 httpwwwijat-aatseacom

AOAC (2019) Official Methods American Organisation of Agri-cultural Chemists Washington DC USA httpswwwaoacorgofficial-methods-of-analysis-21st-edition-2019

Bhowmik D Sampath Kumar KP Paswan S Srivastava S (2012) Tomato-A natural medicine and its health benefits J of Phar-macognosy and Phytochem 1(1) 33-43 wwwphytojournalcom

Domiacutenguez JJ Edwards CA (2011) Biology and ecology of earth-worms species used for vermicomposting In Edwards CA Arancon NQ Sherman RL (Eds) Vermiculture technology Earthworms organic waste and environmental management CRC Press Boca Raton FL pp 27-40

Edwards CA Bohlen PJ (1996) Biology and ecology of earth-worms 3rd Eds London Chapman and Hall pp 426

Garg VK Kaushik P (2004) Dynamics of biological and chem-ical parameter during vermicomposting of solid textile mill sludge mixed with cow dung and agricultural residues Biore-sour Technol 94(2) 203-209 httpsdoiorg101016jbiortech200310033

Jaikishun S Hunte N Ansari AA Gomathinayagam S (2014) Ef-fect of vermiwash from different sources (Bagasse Neem Paddy Straw in different combinations) in controlling fungal diseases and growth of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) fruits in Guyana J Bio Sc 14(8) 501-507 httpsdoiorg 103923jbs2014501507

Kaur P Bhardwaj M Babber I (2015) Effect of vermicompost and vermiwash on the growth of vegetables R J An Vet Fish Sc 3(4) 9-12 httpwwwiscainAVFSArchivev3i43IS-CA-RJAVFS-2015-007pdf

Maheswari VN Srikumaran MP Rekha GS Elumalai D Kalee-na PK (2016) Growth promoting effects of vermiwash and panchagavya on Dolichus lablab under field experimental conditions Int J Appl Sc Biotech 4(4) 513-518 httpsdoiorg103126ijasbtv4i416270

Makkar C Jaswinder S Chander P (2017) Vermicompost and veriwash as supplement to improve seedling plant growth and yield in Linum usitaainum L for organic agriculture Int J Recycl Org Waste Agricult 6 203-218 httpsdoiorg101007s40093-017-0168-4

Manyuchi MM Phiri A Muredzi P Chitambwe T (2013) Com-parison of vermicompost and vermiwash bio-fertilizers from vermicomposting waste corn pulp Int J Agri Biosyst Eng 7(6) 389-392 httpsdoiorg105281zenodo1326732

Pandit NP Ahmad N Maheshwari SK (2012) Vermicomposting biotechnology An eco-loving approach for recycling of solid organic wastes into valuable biofertilizers J Biofert Biopest 3(1) 1-8 httpsdoiorg1041722155-62021000113

Prabina BJ Devi TS Kumutha K (2018) Developing and evalu-ating neem leaf vermiwash as organic plant growth promoter Int J cur micro appl sc 7(1) 859-866 httpsdoi org1020546ijcmas2018701104

Ramnarain Y Ori L Ansari AA (2018) Effect of the use of ver-


micompost on the plant growth parameters of Pak Voi (Bras-sica rapa var chinensis) and the soil structure in Suriname J Global Agric Ecol 8(1) 8-15 httpswwwikprressorgindexphpJOGAEarticleview2792

Ramnarain YI Ansari AA Ori L (2019) Vermicomposting of dif-ferent organic materials using the epigeic earthworm Eisenia foetida Int J Recycl Org Waste Agricult 8 23-36 httpsdoiorg101007s40093-018-0225-7

Samadhiya H Dandotiya P Chaturvedi J Agarwal OP (2013) Ef-fect of vermiwash on the growth and development of leaves and stem of tomato plants Int J Cur R 5(10) 3020-3032 httpwwwjournalcracomsitesdefaultfilesissue-pdfDownload204194pdf

Shamshiri RR Jones JW Thorp KR Ahmad D Hasfalina CM Taheri S (2018) Review of optimum temperature humidity and vapour pressure deficit for microclimate evaluation and control in greenhouse cultivation of tomato A review Int Agrophysics 32 287-302 httpsdoi org101515intag-2017-0005

Tharmaraj KP Ganesh KK Suresh KR Ananda A (2011) Influ-ence of vermicompost and vermiwash on physico chemical properties of rice cultivated soil Cur Bot 2(3) 18-21 httpcurrentbotanyorg6220

Verma S Babu A Patel A Singh SK Pradhan SS Verma SK Singh JP Singh RK (2018) Significance of vermiwash on crop production A review J Pharmacognosy Phytochem 7(2) 297-301 wwwphytojournalcom

Zaefarian F Rezvani M (2016) Soybean (Glycine max [L] Merr) Production under organic and traditional farming In environmental stresses in Soybean production 5103-129 Academic press httpsdoiorg101016B978-0-12-801535-300005-X

Zarei M Abadi VAJM Moridi A (2018) Comparison of vermi-wash and vermicompost tea properties produced from differ-ent organic beds under greenhouse conditions Int J Recycl Org Waste Agricult 7(1) 25-32 httpsdoiorg101007S40093-017-0186-2


crops environment and human health Sustainable ag-riculture seeks to introduce agricultural practices that are environmentally sound economically viable and socially supportive In this context alternative sources such as microbial inoculants and compost based prod-ucts are considered to meet the nutrient requirements of crops Earthworms are known to decompose organic waste into nutrient rich vermicasts through the com-bined action of microorganisms The produced vermi-compost is reported to be rich in nitrogen (N) phos-phorus (P) potassium (K) and micronutrients with a greater rate of microbial and enzymatic activities Several researchers found that vermicompost has a positive effect on the growth development flowering and yield of plants It is also been noted that vermi-compost increases the root apparatus and the biomass production of the plants and improves the soil fertility (Manyuchi et al 2013 Zaefarian and Rezvani 2016) The by-product from the vermicomposting process which is termed vermiwash is a brownish colored sub-stance that is formed due to the movement of water in the vermicomposting units through the burrows formed by the earthworms This liquid is reported to be rich in NPK components micronutrients plant growth hormones microbes and enzymes It is used as a foliar spray that can be easily absorbed by plants (Manyuchi et al 2013 Kaur et al 2015) The foliar application of vermiwash is also reported to have pes-ticide effect plants show less or no incidence of dis-eases and pests (Verma et al 2018)

Both the vermicompost and vermiwash are used as bio-fertilizers in the practice of sustainable agriculture It is reported that the combined use of vermiwash and vermicompost have the highest plant yield with more branches higher number of capsules higher plant dry weight improved root growth parameters enhanced physico-chemical biological and microbiological properties of the soil (Makkar et al 2017) Use of ver-miwash and vermicompost enhances the quality of the crop by increasing their nutrition status that also im-proves the sustainability of commercial agriculture in a less tangible but equally important way since the main goal of agriculture is to grow food for the wellbeing of the population

Farmers in Suriname generally cultivate in poor soils Therefore for improvement in crop productivity in Suriname and most other countries massive applica-tion of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers is done This leads to gradual depletion of soil fertility and microbial

diversity Conventionally managed soils are found to exhibit a poorer microflora and a lower biological ac-tivity then organically managed soils The use of chem-ical fertilizers can result in poor soil health reduction in production and increase in incidences of pest and dis-eases and environmental pollution Recently much at-tention is paid to organic cultivation of crops by the use of bio-fertilizers as a substitute for chemical fertilizers In Suriname vermiwash production is a new method of generating effective liquid fertilizer Therefore this research was conducted to provide an insight into how to produce vermiwash from organic waste material and its effectiveness on crop production by applying it in combinations with vermicompost

Materials and methods

This research study was conducted during the year 2018 at the Anton the Kom University of Suriname The experiment was carried out in two phases the pro-duction of vermicompost followed by vermiwash us-ing Eisenia foetida earthworms and the cultivation of tomato plants The first phase involed the production of vermicompost by using three types of organic waste (dry grass clippings dry neem leaves and a combina-tion of dry grass clippings and dry neem leaves) with three replications Vermiwash was collected on day 60 and 90 and the physico-chemical properties were an-alyzed The second phase consisted of a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with four treatments and three replications in the field The treatments were control (C) vermicompost (V) vermiwash (W) and a com-bination of vermicompost and vermiwash (VW) The growth parameters were measured (plant height stem thickness number of branches root length and yield in terms of number of fruits and fruit weight) Data was statistically analyzed using a one-way ANOVA test fol-lowed by LSD test

Production of vermiwash

The Eisenia foetida earthworms (Fig 1) were collect-ed from the vermicomposting station at the Anton the Kom University of Suriname Initially the earthworms were imported from the University of Guyana in 2016 by Ramnarain (Ramnarain et al 2019) For the exper-iment a total of 450 earthworms were collected which were segregated into different age groups of juvenile non-clittelate and clittelate earthworms







Experimental design























Fig 4 Seedlings




















































60 days 90 days

Treatment Treatment













pH H2O 810 830 810 820 800EC (dSm) 240 234 298 272 311







Field experiment

































Moisture content ()











Moisture content()







C 3033 plusmn 252 a





post+Vermiwash







C - -







Economic analyses






Conclusion











References

































Experimental design























Fig 4 Seedlings




















































60 days 90 days

Treatment Treatment













pH H2O 810 830 810 820 800EC (dSm) 240 234 298 272 311







Field experiment

































Moisture content ()











Moisture content()







C 3033 plusmn 252 a





post+Vermiwash







C - -







Economic analyses






Conclusion











References















































Fig 4 Seedlings




















































60 days 90 days

Treatment Treatment













pH H2O 810 830 810 820 800EC (dSm) 240 234 298 272 311







Field experiment

































Moisture content ()











Moisture content()







C 3033 plusmn 252 a





post+Vermiwash







C - -







Economic analyses






Conclusion











References





























































60 days 90 days

Treatment Treatment













pH H2O 810 830 810 820 800EC (dSm) 240 234 298 272 311







Field experiment

































Moisture content ()











Moisture content()







C 3033 plusmn 252 a





post+Vermiwash







C - -







Economic analyses






Conclusion











References
































pH H2O 810 830 810 820 800EC (dSm) 240 234 298 272 311







Field experiment

































Moisture content ()











Moisture content()







C 3033 plusmn 252 a





post+Vermiwash







C - -







Economic analyses






Conclusion











References


























































Moisture content ()











Moisture content()







C 3033 plusmn 252 a





post+Vermiwash







C - -







Economic analyses






Conclusion











References






























C 3033 plusmn 252 a





post+Vermiwash







C - -







Economic analyses






Conclusion











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Conclusion











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production and effect of vermiwash and vermicompost on

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