Sultan Ahmed Ismail

• M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., D.Sc., D.H.Ed.,
• Managing Director at Ecoscience Research Foundation

This chapter discusses the role and science of earthworms involved in the successful utilization of organic wastes for the production of an environmentally friendly fertilizer product known as vermicompost. It is well known that earthworms are used as bioagents in organic waste stabilization studies, but their science in the perspective of looking...

Several researchers have modeled animal’s guts as reactors, although not many discuss earthworm specifically. The present study applies plug flow reactor (PFR) based enzyme deactivation kinetic model by using three deactivation rates (β), i.e., 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15 to predict the changes in proteolytic activity, profile of crude protein and amino aci...

Earthworms are commonly referred as environmental engineers and their guts are often compared with chemical reactors. However, modeling experiments to substantiate it are lacking. The aim of this study was to use established reactor models, particularly PFR, on the gut of the vermicomposting earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae to understand more on its dig...

The present paper reports management of palm oil mill effluent (POME) mixed with palm-pressed fibre (PPF) POME-PPF mixture using eco-friendly, cost-effective vermicomposting technology. Vermicomposting of POME-PPF was performed to examine the optimal POME-PPF ratio with respect to the criteria of earthworm biomass and to evaluate the decomposition...

PurposeThe investigation of the phytoextraction potential of three vegetable plants grown in soils amended with decanter cake. Method Pot experiments were conducted to investigate the response of decanter cake composition on the phytoextraction of metals (Mg, Zn, Ni and Cu) by lady’s finger, tomato and brinjal plants. The phytoextraction properties...

The intensity and concentrated activity of the livestock industry and other sources generate vast amounts of biodegradable wastes, which must be managed under appropriate disposal practices to avoid a negative impact on the environment (odour and gaseous emissions, soil and water pollution, etc.) (Burton and Turner. Manure management, 2nd edn. Trea...

The living cell is the site of tremendous biochemical activity called metabolism. This is the process of chemical and physical change which goes on continually in the living organism. The greatest majority of these biochemical reactions do not take place spontaneously (Bennett and Frieden. Modern topics in biochemistry. Macmillan, London, pp 43–45,...

Soil bears infinite life that promotes diverse microflora. Soil bacteria viz., Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Streptomyces etc., are prolific producers of secondary metabolites which act against numerous co-existing phytopathogeic fungi and human pathogenic bacteria (Pathma and Sakthivel. SpringerPlus 1:1–26, 2012). Microbial communities also support a...

Human activities have always generated waste. This was not a major issue when the human population was relatively small and nomadic, but became a serious problem with urbanization and the growth of large conurbations. Poor management of waste led to contamination of water, soil and atmosphere and to a major impact on public health. In medieval time...

Each year, approximately 38 billion metric tons of organic wastes are produced all over the world. Human behaviour, consumption rate, and population explosion are the generally proposed factors responsible for this dramatic increase. As wastes materials are always considered to be either unusable or disposable, burning and deposition has always bee...

Charles Darwin described earthworms as the ‘unheralded soldiers of mankind’, and Aristotle called them as the ‘intestine of earth’, as they could digest a wide variety of organic materials (Darwin (1881) The formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms, with observations on their habitats. Murray, London, p 326). Before Darwin’s book wa...

PurposeResearch has shown that oil palm decanter cake (DC) serves as a potential source of nutrients for plant growth. This study therefore investigated the applicability of decanter cake (DC) as an amendment to soil for the growth of Solanum melongena (brinjal) at three ratios 10, 20, 30 % DC and suitable controls (0 %). Methods Seeds of brinjal w...

The main aim of this book is to bridge the gap between aerobic and anaerobic waste treatments by concentrating on studies of earthworms. In particular, vermicomposting is being discussed as well as its properties and applications. Other subjects touch on the treatment of palm oil mill effluents, the various importance of earthworms, its scope and f...

The problem of waste disposal from a myriad of industries, is becoming increasingly acute, the world over. The burning of such wastes in open dumps or in poorly designed incinerators could be a major source of air pollution (Ndegwa and Thompson. Bioresour Technol 76:107–112, 2001). On the other hand, open dumps and poorly designed sanitary landfill...

Like any other living organism, earthworm requires certain favourable conditions to feed, grow and survive (Table 7.1). As a potentially important bio-agent in waste management practises, earthworms are cultured in large scale depending on the species required. To achieve better growth, certain environmental conditions are usually provided in labor...

Vermicomposts are products derived from the accelerated biological degradation of organic wastes by interactions between earthworms and microorganisms as we have discussed in previous chapters. Earthworms consume and fragment the organic wastes into finer particles by passing them through a grinding gizzard, and they derive their nourishment from t...

Scientists suggest that earthworms contained sufficient protein to be considered as animal food or sources of feed protein (Lawrence and Millar. Nature Lond 3939:517, 1945). The first successful animal-feeding trials were organized on chicken and suckling pigs (Sabine. The nutritive value of earthworm meal. In: Hartenstein R (ed) Proceedings of con...

Biodegradable organic wastes such as crop residues, municipal, hospital and industrial wastes pose major problems in disposal and treatment. Release of unprocessed animal manures into agricultural fields contaminates ground water causing public health risk (Gandhi et al. Environ Ecol 15:432–434, 1997). Vermicomposting and composting are the most ef...

The main aim of this study is to perform a comparative study on freshly collected cow dung samples to guide farmers in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Hence, fresh cow dung samples (CD1, CD2 and CD3) from three different farms (F1, F2 and F3) provided with locally available resources such as grass, palm tree wastes and corn were subjected to proximate anal...

Pesticides have caused and still causing havoc to our biodiversity and environment attributable to their prolonged persistence in the environment, as most of these are POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants). Commercially available pesticides are of different grades with various formulations. Formulations generally depend on carrier molecules that mak...

Prolonged usage of chemicals in agriculture has devastated biodiversity to a large extent including microbial diversity and density. Upon intense exposure certain microorganisms acclimatize to chemical influenced soil and exploit those chemicals as their sole source of carbon and/or nitrogen. Bioremediation studies over the past decades predominant...

Prolonged usage of chemicals in agriculture has devastated biodiversity to a large extent including microbial diversity and density. Upon intense exposure certain microorganisms acclimatize to chemical influenced soil and exploit those chemicals as their sole source of carbon and/or nitrogen. Bioremediation studies over the past decades predominant...

Recent trends in agriculture practices especially pesticide usage, resulted in environmental pollution, soil health degradation, agrochemical residues in soil and economic residues of the crop. The need of an alternative pest control system which could provide environmentally safe and economically viable measures in the cultivation fields has becom...

Background Palm oil mill effluent and palm press fiber are problematic wastes generated by the palm oil mill industries in Malaysia. This study has endeavored to assess the possibility of the vermicomposting of residue from the palm oil mills using epigeic earthworms Lumbricus rubellus under laboratory conditions. The study was conducted over 50 da...

2012) Role of Earthworms in Vermitechnology. Journal of Agricultural Technology 8(2): 405-415. Earthworms are essential detritus feeders that play a vital role in the process of decomposition of organic matter and soil metabolism. They are referred to as indicators of soil health. The complex process of partial breakdown of organic matter and mixin...

Earthworms were collected from Chennai and its environs for taxonomic listing and to prepare a brief guide for identification by budding vermiculturists. Earthworm species were identified using existing taxonomic keys. Drawida scandens, Lampito mauritii, Perionyx excavatus, Perionyx sansibaricus, Octochaetona barnesi, Octochaetona pattoni, Octochae...

A detailed account of the preparation of the “drug” TEP from the earthworm Lampito mauritii Kinberg and the use of the petroleum ether fraction of TEP for its anti-inflammatory prperty on albino rats has been investigated. The efficiency of the drug appears to be similar to that of aspirin in carrageenan induced oedema. Preliminary reports are enco...

Earthworm density and diversity have been studied in a sandy loam site and a clay loam site, each comprising of 50 locations, at Madras.Lampito mauritii is the dominant species in the sandy loam while it isOctochaetona serrata in the clay loam. The indices of dominance, diversity and dissimilarity have been estimated and discussed in relation to th...

Distribution of earthworms has been studied in four locations comprising of two sandy loam and two clay loam soils of Madras, and correlated with the physical and chemical parameters of the soil.L. mauritii andO. serrata are the dominant earthworm species in the sandy loams and clay loams respectively. Each location has limiting factors like temper...

Chemical inputs have made soils unproductive. The importance of organic inputs and the impact of soil fauna specially the earthworms are discussed with reference to reclamation of sandy soils, sodic soils, and cultivation of paddy.