Vermicomposting is an environmentally sustainable process as
it leads in destruction of pathogens, small green house emissions,
and is scalable to suit any volume. According to Eastman (1999)
the process of vermicomposting can also result in a product with
a lower pathogen level than that in compost. The nutrient content
of the vermicompost depends upon the quality of feed material
to earthworm. The physico-chemical characteristics of vermicom-
post formed in appropriate manner have been given in Table 11
(Kale, 2002). The vermicompost is found to be rich in nitrogen
and organic carbon. Carbon:nitrogen ratios also falled between
15 and 18 (Table 11). C:N ratio is one of the most widely used
indicators of vermicompost maturation (Kale, 2002). The loss of
carbon as CO2 during microbial respiration and addition of nitro-
gen rich excretory material helps in decreasing the C:N ratio of the
substrate.