Composting of sawdust using microbial consortium and earthworms
Plastic troughs of 45cm x 35cm x 15cm size were filled with pre-decomposed sawdust with various organic manure such as cow dung, goat manure and poultry manure[ 16,17]. The microbial consortium (50 ml / kg substrate with 108cell per ml) and adult clitellate E. eugeniae (10 worms / kg substrate) were used for composting in various treatments. The troughs without microbial consortium and earthworms were served as control (T1-a, T2-a and T3-a). The moisture content of the vermibed was maintained at 60 to 80 percent and the substrate was turned once in a week and the experimental setups were maintained in a controlled environment for 60 d. Three replicates were maintained for each treatment. The composted substrates were removed from all the treatments and stored for further study.