Assessment of sustainable vermiconversion of water hyacinth at different reactor efficiencies employing Eudrilus eugeniae Kinberg

The viability of vermireactors fed with different proportions of water hyacinth (WH) and cowdung (CD) was assessed over six-month trials. All reactors performed sustainably with a steadily rising vermicast output, worm zoomass, and number of offspring. There was no mortality in any of the reactors. A change in the WH:CD ratios from 4:1 to 6:1 had no discernable impact on the reactor performances. Attempts were also made to improve the efficiency of the reactors in terms of vermicast production per unit time and per unit digester volume. These attempts led to the ‘high-rateʹ vermireactor in which 5.6 times greater vermicast was produced per litre of digester volume per day than in the ‘low-rateʹ reactors. The high-rate vermireactors also performed sustainably, with steady vermicast output, animal growth, and reproduction.