Potential of different vermicast formulations toward chemical composition and microbial functional diversity as biofertilizer

Abstract

Three different formulations of biofertilizer - EM vermicompost, IMO vermicompost and control vermicompost were developed in this study. The macronutrients and microbiological content of each formulation were compared and field trial was conducted. The study showed that EM vermicompost had higher nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content than IMO and control vermicomposts. Microbiological analysis results also showed that EM vermicompost had more lactobacillus, yeast and photosynthetic bacteria than the other two vermicomposts. This is in agreement with the field trial results where the percentage yield of the crops is higher for plants fertilized with EM vermicompost. In this study it can be concluded that EM vermicompost is a better biofertilizer than IMO and Control vermicomposts as demonstrated through its properties and performance.