Effect of Simultaneous Deployment of Two or Three Earthworm Species on Vermicomposting of the Terrestrial Weed Mimosa

Mimosa (Mimosa pudica) was vermicomposted with Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida, and Perionyx excavatus, singly or in different combinations, to see whether the process efficiency is enhanced when two or three species are used in the reactor instead of one.In all cases, the authors directly vermicomposted mimosa, without any pre-treatment, supplementation of cow dung or any other form of precomposting/processing, utilizing the high− rate vermicomposting system. Over a longterm (150-day) pulse-fed operation, it was seen that vermicomposting occurred briskly in all the reactors, leading to a consistent high vermicast output, which demonstrated the success of the highrate vermicomposting paradigm as no other author has so far achieved direct /or comparably rapid vermicomposting of mimosa.The most efficient vermicast production was obtained by E. fetida, closely followed by E eugeniae. Statistically, there was no significant difference observed in the reactor performance when two or three of the species were used together.