Quantitative and Qualitative Distribution of Bacteria in Vermicompost Produced by Different Organic Wastes

Earthworms are an important component of the soil macrofauna and represent 82% of the total biomass in tropical zones with a precipitation above 1000mm. Earthworms are soil vertebrates which play a key role in recycling of organic matter in soils. Anecic, epigeous and endogenous earthworms stimulate or inhibit the growth of bacteria of agriculture importance inside their digestive tracts. Aerobic and anaerobic bacterial count of viable microorganisms in vermicompost produced by exotic earthworm Eisenia fetida has been studied in the present paper. The vermicompost was produced by different types of wastes for example cow dung, kitchen waste, petha waste and agricultural waste. Number of bacteria was higher in earthworm casting than in ingested soil samples. Bacterial count was obtained by standard microbiological procedures on the basis of their morphological and biochemical characteristics. Results reveal that the maximum bacterial count obtained was through mixing cow dung and petha waste (75 × 10⁷ cfu/g). Isolated bacteria were identified as belonging to genus Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Vibrio, Clostridium, Mycobacterium and Azotobacter. These bacteria inhabit the soil and develop considerably when there is easily degradable organic matter.