Development of Vermiwash Production Technique: Evaluation of its Physicochemical Parameters and Effect on Overall Plant Growth

Abstract

Soil health is a critical component of sustainable agriculture. Agricultural soil faces numerous challenges, such as erosion, nutrient depletion and contamination. Intensive farming practices such as mechanization, overuse of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and short crop rotation have severely impacted soil quality in terms of decreased fertility, less water retention and loss of biodiversity.  Vermiwash and vermicompost now emerge as effective solutions to restore soil health. Vermiwash is a liquid fertilizer derived from earthworm castings rich in bioavailable nutrients and growth hormones and pesticide potency. The present course of the investigation focused on developing the vermiwash production technique, evaluating its physicochemical parameters and its effect on overall plant growth. We have evaluated physicochemical parameters viz., mainly pH, EC, Total Organic Carbon, C: N Ratio, macronutrients, micronutrients and microbiota in the vermiwash and vermicompost. We found almost similar values reported in the literature except for EC and NO3. Significantly, our vermiwash has 1.47 of EC values, which was claimed as the most suitable range of EC for plant growth. Further, nitrate content was observed in our vermiwash, and such results were not published earlier. During the evaluation of our vermiwash for wheat growth, we noted 1.46 times higher plant crop growth as compare to standard soil. This study proposed a single unit for developing vermicompost and vermiwash, i.e., a mono-unit serving the dual purpose that could eventually be integrated into sustainable agriculture.