P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)

Received: 11-03/ Revised: 12-15/ Accepted:12-30-22
https://neust.journalintellect.com/quest

Production Of Vermicast Using Various Organic Waste Materials by

African Night Crawler (Eudrilus eugeniae) Cultured on Portable Bin

Esplana, Nhorlyn Rose S.1, Esplana, Camille S.2, Cumbe, Marites M.3,
Esplana, Lourdes S.4, Pasion, Billie Jack DR.5*

1,3,4,5NuevaEcija University of Science and Technology, Gen. Tinio St., Quezon District,
Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, 3100 Philippines
2Cabanatuan City Water District, Maharlika Road, Dicarma District, Cabanatuan City, Nueva

Ecija, 3100 Philippines

*Corresponding author’s email: [email protected]

Abstract. Vermicomposting in portable bins is usually adopted nowadays after the public
understanding of vermicompost process increased and its deployment to convert
organic waste into vermicompost has been increasingly expanded. Using worms, the
vermicomposting technique turns food scraps, manure, and other biodegradable waste
into "vermicast," which is an excellent fertilizer. Ease of the vermicompost process and
ability of its application in various scales made the vermicomposting a popular issue
almost everywhere. The experimental descriptive research method was used in this study
specifically the true experimental research design that relied on statistical analysis to
approve or disprove a hypothesis. The researcher conducted a 15-day experiment to
observe and collect data and the process were divided into two stages: development and
assessment. A total of 12 portable bins were put up in the experimental study and used
them in developing and accessing which organic substrates are highly efficient in
producing vermicast. Four sets with triplicate (T) bins containing worms and soil for
control, and for the experimental agricultural wastes for T1, food wastes for T2 and
office waste for T3. These bins were observed for 15 days and from the data collected,
researchers found out that in experimental bins, the replicates with agricultural wastes
produced the highest amount of organic fertilizer or the vermicast, followed by the food
waste (fruit peelings and vegetable scraps) and the least from office wastes (shredded
paper). The findings in this study led to the statement that portable bins made from
utility boxes can develop and produce organic fertilizer from Vermicomposting, using
agricultural waste materials preferably.

Keywords: African nightcrawler; Eudrilus euneniae; Organic waste; Portable bin;

Vermicast production

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)
Received: 11-03/ Revised: 12-15/ Accepted:12-30-22
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1. Introduction

The problem on waste disposal management caused by modernization and

expanded human population caused environmental problems such as global
warming, lower production, and infertility of the soil can be healed through the
continuous use of organic fertilizers such as compost, vermicast or any farm
manures (Satchell, 2012). Vermiculture is one of the most promising
technologies to answer the demand of people who used organic fertilizers.

Vermicomposting is a method of composting which uses worms to convert

food scraps, manure, and other biodegradable waste into worm poop or
vermicast, which makes for very good fertilizer. Vermicomposting needs both
carbon and nitrogen-rich materials to be able to decompose. Carbon-rich
materials such as used paper, leaves, etc. are used for the worms’ bedding, while
nitrogen-rich food scraps and green manure serve as worm food. It has also
become popular and has recently been recognized as one of the most appropriate
methods to stabilize organic waste. In terms of a system for waste management,
vermicomposting is sustainable, economically viable, and without detrimental
effects to human health or to the environment (Pirsaheb et al., 2013).

The idea of making one’s own vermicomposting bin is not also new as more
people are educated of its relevance to the environment; not only considering the
value having organic fertilizer for home grown vegetables & plants, but more so
on managing waste materials such as food scraps, garden waste into something
useful with species earthworm like the African Nightcrawler. In Cuba, India and
the Philippines, this worm is favoured most for producing vermicompost fertiliser
for organic farming, whereas in North America and Australia the main commercial
use is for breeding as fish bait (Blakemore, 2015).

Managing wastes properly is essential in achieving a clean, safe, sustainable

and progressive place. Over the past year, the generated amounts of solid wastes
including food wastes have been exponentially increased almost all over the
world. This increase is attributed and correlated primarily with population
growth. and to address problems, vermicomposting is one solution to the
problem. According to Jara-Samaniego et al. (2017), improper waste
management was found detrimental to the environment and human health. With
the problems associated with the solid waste management, there is an urgent
need to find ways and means to lessen its negative effect. Unless this is

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)
Received: 11-03/ Revised: 12-15/ Accepted:12-30-22
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addressed, waste generation from various sources will continually lead to health
hazards and environmental impacts such as ground and surface water
contamination, flooding, air pollution and spread of disease. Vermicompost is
beneficial for sustainable organic agriculture and maintaining balanced
ecosystem (Kaur, 2020).

In this premise, the researchers developed a vermiculture bin that can function
similarly as the existing small and large-scale composting models. Instead of
using worm beds, the vermiculture bin was made out of plastic storage boxes
then these was grouped into three substrates of different waste materials-
agriculture waste, plant waste and food waste. The fourth group was the control
group, with the worms and soil in the bin. The results helped in determining what
substrate generated the most efficient vermicast in terms of volume and
substrate left. The four groups of Vermiculture bins are prepared with the same
quantity of worms and substrate materials, and it differs only in the waste
materials used as worm beds.

2. Methodology

The experimental descriptive research method was used in this study

specifically the true experimental research design that relied on statistical
analysis to approve or disprove a hypothesis. According to Dawes (2010), the
term true experiment is sometimes used to refer to any randomized experiment,
hence, the term true experiment is used to describe all studies with at least one
independent variable that is experimentally manipulated and with at least one
dependent or outcome variable. The subjects of this study were the control bin
and experimental bin. The researchers used the plastic utility boxes as the
control and experimental bins, because of its availability, cost, size and
portability. The control group with three (3) utility boxes as portable bins had
200 grams each of African Night Crawler (ANC) and same was done to the bins
of the experimental group. The study was conducted from September to
December 2021 at Aduas Norte, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. This
place was chosen for easy monitoring of the experiment.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Description of the Experimental and Control Bins

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)
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The researchers prepared materials for vermicomposting and set up the

Portable Vermiculture Bin (PVB) in four categories- 1 control and 3 experimental,
to collect information needed in analyzing vermicast development and
assessment. Agriculture, food and office wastes were used as substrate materials
in experimental group while in the control, the researchers utilized soil. The
design of utility boxes used as vermi or the ANC (E. eugeniae) culture bins were
suitable as worm beds for the vermin composting both the utility boxes placed
as worm beds in the experimental and control groups. Holes were appropriately
put on the covers to allow airflow. However, despite the uniformity in weight and
quantity of vermi placed in bins, they weighed differently after fifteen days while
the control group with the vermi and soil showed an abrupt decrease in weight.
Figure 1 shows the PVB and the substrate used in this study.

Figure 1 Portable Vermiculture Bin and different Substrate

3.2. Description of the experimental and control group after 15-day

maintenance and maturation of vermicompost.
After 15 days of preservation and fruition of the experimental and control
group, the amount of substrate, the amount of E. eugeniae, and vermicompost
humus quality in worm beds were described as follows:

3.2.1. Amount of substrate left in worm beds

In the three different treatments, the weight of the substrate found in

agricultural waste, kitchen waste, and office waste was weighed after 15 days.
The actual quantity of the three substrate is presented in the table 1.

Table 1 Weight of the Substrate from Day 1 to 15

Weight of Substrate (kg)
Treatment Replicate
Day 1 Day 15
R1 1 0.75

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)
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Treatment 1 R2 1 0.85
(Agricultural Waste) R3 1 0.85
R1 1 0.75
Treatment 2
R2 1 0.80
(Kitchen Waste)
R3 1 0.80
R1 1 0.90
Treatment 3
R2 1 0.95
(Office Waste)
R3 1 0.95
R1 1 1
Control R2 1 1
R3 1 1
The table demonstrates that, after Day 15, it is clearly shown that the
weight of the substrate found in the three treatments after Day 15 has resulted
to a lesser weight as compared to day 1 while it remains the same in the control
bin. This result was confirmed to have significant difference per treatment made
through the analysis of variance shown in Table 2. The result reveals that the F
statistic of 11.17 exceeds the F-crit of 5.14 which has been the basis to reject
the null hypothesis interpreted as the weight of the substrate from in three
different categories of waste materials are significantly produced differently.

Table 2 Analysis of Variance for the Weight of the Substrate

Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit
Between Groups 0.037222 2 0.018611 11.16667 0.009496 5.143253
Within Groups 0.01 6 0.001667
Total 0.047222 8

3.2.2. Amount of E. eugeniae in worm beds

After 15 days, the weight of the vermi discovered in the three substrates
for the three different treatments was measured. Table 3 displays the actual
weight of the vermi collected from the three treatments after 15 days.

Table 3 Weight of the harvested vermi after 15 days

Weight of Substrate (kg)
Treatment Replicate
Day 1 Day 15
R1 200 200
Treatment 1
R2 200 200
(Agricultural Waste)
R3 200 200
Treatment 2 R1 200 200
(Kitchen Waste) R2 200 200

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
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R3 200 200
R1 200 150
Treatment 3
R2 200 150
(Office Waste)
R3 200 150
R1 200 75
Control R2 200 50
R3 200 50
The table shows that the amount of vermi collected in kitchen and
agricultural waste remained unchanged, but it decreased to 50 g in office waste.
This indicates that even after 15 days, all of the day-planted vermi in the kitchen
and agricultural trash in three duplicates survived. After 15 days in the office
garbage, 50 g, or 25% of the worms, have already perished. With no treatment, it
had significantly worse effects in the control group, killing more than 75% of
them.

3.2.3. Humus Quality of Vermicompost

Color, odor and texture was observed after 15 days to check the quality of
humus. According to Guerrero (2010), good humus has rich brown or dark brown
color and crumbly to the touch. It will be dry and crumble between fingers like
coarse sand. Table 4 describes the quality of humus in terms of physical
properties.

Table 3 Humus Quality After 15 Days in Terms of Physical Properties

Treatment Color Odor Texture
Treatment 1 Dark Earthy smell, no bad Slightly moist,
(Agricultural Waste) brown odor or pungent odor crumbly
Treatment 2 Dark
Odorless Moist, mud-like
(Kitchen Waste) brown
Treatment 3 Moderately clumpy,
Brown Odorless
(Office Waste) mud-like
According to Table 3, Treatments 1 and 2 have a dark brown color, while
Treatment 4, which is lighter in color than Treatments 1 and 2, has a browner
hue. Treatments 2 and 3 are both odorless, while Treatment 1 lacks any
unfavorable odor. While Treatments 2 and 3 have a mud-like texture that is damp
and little clumpy, Treatment 1 is slightly moist and crumbles. After 15 days of
treatment, the following treatments entails that the worms in different treatments
are considered healthy even though the ANC worms have varying physical
characteristics.

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)
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3.3. Differences between substrate materials in three treatments in the

Vermicast Production
After 15 days of experiment, the differences in the results in terms of
weight of substrates, vermi and vermicast production was described.

3.3.1. Weight of Substrate

The researchers observed 4 duplicated sets of substrate materials with

various treatments in the experimental group and 1 replicated set in the control
group to ascertain the development of vermicast after fifteen (15) days. Table 5
shows the difference of substrate weight after day 15.

Table 5 Differences in the Weight of Substrate

Weight of Substrate Decrease Average
(kg) in Weight weight
Treatment Replicate
Day 1 Day 15 of at
Substrate Day15
R1 1.000 0.750 0.25
Treatment 1
R2 1.000 0.850 0.15 0.8167 kg
(Agricultural Waste)
R3 1.000 0.850 0.15
R1 1.000 0.750 0.25
Treatment 2
R2 1.000 0.800 0.20 0.7833 kg
(Kitchen Waste)
R3 1.000 0.800 0.20
R1 1.000 0.900 0.10
Treatment 3
R2 1.000 0.950 0.05 0.9330 kg
(Office Waste)
R3 1.000 0.950 0.05
R1 1.000 1.000 0
Control R2 1.000 1.000 0 1.000 kg
R3 1.000 1.000 0
As shown in the table, the duplicated sets of the vermi bins with the Control
group—which consisted of soil and vermi—retained their initial weight of 1
kilogram after 15 days. The three replicated sets of substrate materials with
various treatments, on the other hand, had varying weights.

3.3.2. Weight of Vermi

The differences in the weight of vermi after 15 days of experiment was shown
in table 6.

Table 6 Differences in the Weight of Vermi

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Weight of Substrate (kg)

Experimental Bin Replicate
Day 1 Day 15 Differences
R1 200 200 0
Treatment 1 (Agricultural Waste) R2 200 200
R3 200 200
R1 200 200 0
Treatment 2 (Kitchen Waste) R2 200 200
R3 200 200
R1 200 150 50
Treatment 3 (Office Waste) R2 200 150
R3 200 150
R1 200 75 25
Control R2 200 50 50
R3 200 50 50
The table demonstrates that the experimental bins with three treatments
had the same weight from Day 1 to Day 15, indicating that treatments 1 and 2,
which contained agricultural and food wastes, respectively, had a 100% survival
rate. When the population of earthworms, the production of vermicompost, and
the chemical and microbial characteristics of the vermicompost were recorded
after fifteen (15) days, the results showed that there were significant differences
in the different treatments in the control and treatment 3 bins. This indicated
that agricultural waste and food wastes had more appropriate substrate materials
for the vermicomposting.

3.3.3. Weight of Vermicast Production

The researchers were able to collect vermicast from the experimental bins
for a period of fifteen (15) days. When they weighed the vermicast from the three
treatments, they discovered the following results. Table 7 shows the differences
of the yielded vermicast in three different treatments.

Table 7 Differences in the Weight of the Yielded Vermicast

Weight of Average weight of

Experimental Replicate
Vermicast (g) vermicast harvested DAY 15
Treatment 1 R1 350
(Agricultural R2 300 303.33 grams
Waste) R3 260
R1 250
Treatment 2
R2 225 225 grams
(Kitchen Waste)
R3 200
R1 150

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Treatment 3 R2 100 133.33grams

(Office Waste) R3 150
R1 0
Control R2 0 0
R3 0
In a span of fifteen (15) days, the researcher was able to harvest vermicast
in the experimental bins and as she weighed the vermicast from the 3 treatments,
the following findings were obtained: Treatment 1 or the agricultural wastes
harvested an average of 303. 33 grams of vermicast, followed by treatment 2
(fruits and vegetables scraps) with 225 grams and lastly, the office waste with
133.33 grams of vermicast in 15 days. From the findings, it can be drawn that
agricultural wastes consist of cow manure, rice straw and banana thrashes as
substrate content produced the highest amount of vermicast from the 3
replicates, followed by food waste, comprised of fruit peelings, vegetable scraps
and cow manure with an average of 225 grams, also from the 3 replicates. The
least amount of 133.33 grams from the 3 replicates of office waste had been
collected, all in Day 15. It also implied that after 15 days, all the bins with 3
treatments had differences in the amount or weight of vermicast produced.

3.4. Findings in Experimental and Control Groups of Vermicast Production

The results from the experimental and control bins demonstrate that the
following null hypotheses are not true: After 15 days, there is a substantial
difference between the control and experimental groups in terms of substrate
material and vermicast production as shown in table 8.

Table 8 Differences in the Results of Experimental and Control Groups

Average
Weight of Substrate Decrease in Weight of
weight
Treatment Replicate Substrate
at
Day 1 (kg) Day 15(kg)
Day 15

R1 1 0.75 0.25
Treatment 1
(Agricultural R2 1 0.85 0.15 0.8167 kg
Waste)
R3 1 0.85 0.15

Treatment 2 R1 1 0.75 0.25

(Fruit & R2 1 0.8 0.2 0.7833 kg

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
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Vegetable
R3 1 0.8 0.2
Scraps)
Treatment 3 R1 1 0.9 0.1

(Office Waste) R2 1 0.95 0.05 0.933 kg

R3 1 0.95 0.05

R1 1 1 0

Control R2 1 1 0 1.000 kg

R3 1 1 0

According to the data gathered, the replicates with agricultural wastes

produced the most organic fertilizer, or vermicast, in the experimental bins,
followed by the replicates with food waste and the least from office wastes. From
Day 1 to Day 15, there were variations in the outcomes of substrate materials,
vermi, and vermicast harvested in control and experimental bins.

4. Conclusions

The vermi worms that are stocked on soil alone were not able to produce
vermicast in control bin with soil as substrate, while vermicomposting in portable
bins using three treatments- agricultural waste, fruits & vegetable scraps and
office waste was successful in developing and producing vermicast from equally
distributed substrate. However, the amount of vermicast were at different
quantities due to earthworm’s activity in the vermi beds treated with different
waste materials. There is a significant difference between the substrate material
and the vermicast produced in the portable bins. The substrate materials treated
with agricultural waste were more productive in terms of vermicast harvested
than fruit and vegetable waste and office waste. Further, there is a significant
difference between the experimental group and the control group after 15 days.
The control bin with vermi and soil was not ideal for vermicast production,
because most of the vermi worms were dead after 15 days, and this makes no
yield of vermicast. Moreover, there is a significant difference between the weights
of the substrate, vermicast produced, and the population of vermi left in the bins
in the control group and three different categories of experimental group after
15 days.

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 P-ISSN: 1908-322X and E-ISSN: 1908-3211
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2022)
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Satchell, J. (2012). Earthworm ecology: From Darwin to vermiculture. Springer Science &
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