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Photo 1: California red worm (Eisenia foetida) |
Photo 2: California red worm (Eisenia foetida) |
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MEKARN MSc 2008-10 |
Miniprojects |
Nowadays, with the development of economics and technology, human faces to many environmental problems such as solid waste, organic waste from production. Moreover increasing husbandry due to the importance of a stable food source is damaging environment because livestock excreta are frequently a source of environmental pollution in intensive specialized animal agriculture (Nguyen Duy Quynh Tram 2004). That’s the reason why human should not only improve food quantity but also protect the habitat around us.
On the other hand, according to many studies and practices, one of the masters of waste management is earthworm. We, for a long time, forget their special roles, for example, worms themselves can also be fed to chickens as a high quality protein supplement, increase the growth rate and feed conversion of fish (Nguyen Duy Quynh Tram et al 2004), and worm-cast is a kind of natural fertilizer rich in nutrients (Nguyen Hoang Minh Tu 2008), worm-cast also improves the quality of soil by providing organic matter, thus enhance the crop growth. From these benefits, earthworm can bring more income to the farmers. Therefore the cultivation of earthworms is necessary, especially when using local resources such as livestock manure for feeding worms in smallholders in the countryside (Keo Sath 2005).
In Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, the earthworm cultivating activity of farmers is more popular these days and they get a lot of benefit from this. For example, Mr. Trung’s farm can get 500 millions dong per year and his family’s income has significantly increased since he raised earthworm (Kim Oanh 2008). Nevertheless, there are many methods to cultivate earthworm, different kinds of substrates and manure sources are used in earthworm production such as goat, cattle, pig manure…Besides, according to Nguyen Quang Suc (2000) the rate of growth of earthworms was faster and more efficient when the substrate was manure from goats rather than from cattle.
Because of these reasons, this experiment is aimed at finding the most suitable feed for the development of the earthworm production.
The growth rate, manure conversion rate and the nutrient composition of earthworm will be improved by using the goat and pig manures as feed because they have good nutrition quality than cattle manure.
The manure suspension is easier for the earthworm to digest than the fresh one, therefore it can also improve the growth rate, manure conversion rate and the nutrient composition of earthworm.
Look for the most valuable manure used as feed for the development of earthworm by comparing the cattle, pig and goat manure suspensions and cattle manure solid as the feed for earthworm.
The experiment will be conducted in Kampong Cham National School of Agriculture, Kampong Cham province, Cambodia.
From 11th August, 2008 to 15th September, 2008
The earthworm, California red worm (Eisenia foetida), will be bought from CelAgrid (Center for livestock and Agriculture Development), Kandal province, Cambodia.
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Photo 1: California red worm (Eisenia foetida) |
Photo 2: California red worm (Eisenia foetida) |
Basket (size about 40 × 30 cm).
Plastic net is used for lining inside the basket.
After applying plastic net, plastic sheet is used at the bottom of the basket.
The pig and cattle manure will be bought from farmers in Kampong Cham province. Cattle manure is used as substrate after adding water (7:3) with 2 kg mixture per basket and feed.
The goat manure will be collected from other experiments. It will be ground by using hammer.
Dried banana leaf is used for making bedding for earthworm with 200g per basket.
Water hyacinth is used for covering as the top layer with 500g per basket (25 per cent of substrate weight) (Saroeun et, al., 2007)
The experiment will be designed as a Randomized Complete Block design (RCBD) with 4 treatments and 4 replications each treatment (n= 4 × 4 = 16) and 4 blocks.
Treatments
1. GM: Cattle manure only with solid cattle manure added according to consumption by the earth worms
2. GMP: Spray daily on the substrate a suspension of pig manure in water. Pig manure suspension comprises 5 kg pig manure mixing with 1 litters of water (5:1).
3. GMC: Spray daily on the substrate a suspension of cattle manure in water. Cattle manure suspension comprises 5 kg cattle manure mixing with 5 litters of water (1:1).
4. GMG: Spray daily on the substrate a suspension of goat manure in water. Goat manure suspension comprises 2.2 kg goat manure and 5.8 litters of water.
Blocks
1. L: 8 baskets will be exposed to sunlight.
2. NL: 8 basket will be kept in shadow.
Earthworm likes dark thus people use this character in collecting them. By spreading the compost containing earthworms on the plastic net under the sunlight, they will head for the bottom of the compost layer. Then, after about 15 minutes, the upper soil layer will be removed in order to harvest earthworms.
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Photo 3: Collecting earthworm |
Put 25g earthworm into each basket with 2kg substrate.
The manure suspension will be sprayed everyday, 1 time per day at 6:30 am correlating with the consumption of earthworm. In order to keep the substrate moist, 50 to 100 ml of water will be added every 3 days per basket.
Before putting earthworm into basket, weigh 25g earthworms then randomly choose 30 worms for measuring and weighing. By using a ruler, the length of 30 worms was measured to calculate the average length. After that, weigh these worms by an electric balance and divide the total weight by 30 to get the average body weight of earthworm for calculating the number of earthworms in 25g.
Earthworm will be analyzed for DM (dry matter), N (crude protein) and ash.
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Photo 4: Weighing earthworm |
Pig, goat or cattle manure will be mixed thoroughly then take about 0.5 to 1 g for analyzing DM, N and ash.
Harvest earthworm from each treatment then randomly choose 30 worms for measuring and weighing to get the average index and calculate the number of earthworms at the end. Worm from each treatment will be analyzed for DM, N and ash.
Compost
Collect compost from each basket to calculate the ratio between compost and manure. Compost will also be analyzed for DM, N and ash.
Manure and earthworm will be analyzed for DM, N and ash according to AOAC, 1990.
The data will be analyzed by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the RCBD procedure of the Minitab software (version 13.3).
AOAC 1990 Official methods of analysis. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Arlington, Virginia, 15th edition, 1298 pp.
Keo Sath 2005 Effect of spraying different levels of biodigester effluent on cow and buffalo manure used as substrate for growth of earth worms, Center for Livestock and Agriculture Development (CelAgrid-UTA Cambodia). http://www.mekarn.org/MSC2005-07/protocols/sath.htm
Kim Oanh 2008 Lam giau tu trung que, Vneconomy. http://vneconomy.vn/home/tin-tuc/0/19/66204/thi-truong/lam-giau-tu-trun-que.htm
Kong Saroeun, T R Preston and Khieu Borin 2007 Evaluation of different ratios of manure and water plants on the production of earthworms and humus, CelAgrid, Cambodia. www.mekarn.org/prohan/content.htm
Nguyen Duy Quynh Tram 2004 Studies into the Utilization of Pig Manure for Aquaculture in Central Vietnam, Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue City, Vietnam. www.mekarn.org/msc2003-05/theses05/tram_lit.pdf
Nguyen Hoang Minh Tu 2008 The proposed research is that decomposable organic garbage should be recycle with epeigeic earthworm into organic fertilizer. www.inepo.com/english/uplFiles_resim/Tu's%20Project_3.doc
Nguyen Duy Quynh Tram, Le Duc Ngoan and Brian Ogle 2004 Culturing earthworms on pig manure and the effect of replacing trash fish by earthworms on the growth performance of Catfish(Clarias macrocephalus x Clarias gariepinus), Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, 102 Phung Hung St., Hue city, Vietnam, Department of Animal Nutrition and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7024, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden. www.mekarn.org/msc2003-05/theses05/tram_p1.pdf
