Degradation of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to vermicompost through application of the vermicomposting technology

Abstract

This study focuses on the microbial degradation of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to vermicompost as a bioconversion strategy. Water hyacinth was vermicomposted using Eisenia Fetida earthworms loaded at a rate of 150 earthworms/L over a period of 35 days. The changes in water hyacinth total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TP), and total phosphorous (TP) and total potassium (TP) were measured using standard methods. Linear models were generated using MATLab 13.0 to describe the changes in physicochemical properties with change in vermicomposting time using the regression coefficients (R2) values. The TOC and COD decreased significantly by 60% and 53% as the water hyacinth was converted to vermicompost. The TKN, TP and TK increased by 93%, 127% and 98% respectively. Linear models developed indicated R2 values of 0.9 for all the parameters.