Survival of Earth Worm in Crude Oil Contaminated Soil

Crude oil contains a wide range of compounds which are largely toxic to humans and the environment. Bioremediation is a waste management technique that consists the use of organisms to eliminate or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site. Eisenia fetida, the most widely used earthworm for vermicomposting and waste reduction. The physical parameters pH, EC and biochemical parameters and total TPH were analysed in the normal and crude oil contaminated soil. The soil samples were contaminated with various concentrations of crude oil (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 and150 g per kg of soil). Ten earthworm (Eisenia fetida) was introduced into the containers and the weight of each test container was recorded. At intervals of time (after every 5 days), the number of living earthworms in each container was recorded. As the result the increased survival was observed in 10, 20, 30, 40 g of crude oil contaminated soil than 50, 100, 150 g contaminated soil. The result showed that the Eisenia fetida has the ability to survive at the concentration of 10, 20, 30, 40 gm of crude oil concentration.