Manure Performance
The Neubauer technique was employed to assess the
quality of pill-millipede manure [32]. This technique
allows estimating the uptake of nutrients by plants grown
in processed sand amended with known quantity of test
manure. Besides, it is also useful in determining the microand
macro-nutrients necessary for plant growth. The sand–
manure mixture allows roots to penetrate easily and rapid
utilization of nutrients. River sand samples were collected,
wetted, rinsed in running tap water and sieved (2 mm
sieve) to eliminate pebbles and coarse organic matter [3].
Sieved sand was further washed in boiling distilled water to
eliminate clay particles, treated with hot acid–water (10 ml
concentrated H2SO4 in 1000 ml distilled water) (30 min) to
remove the remaining organic matter.