Abstract

COMBATING THE PARTHENIUM POLLUTION BY ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE VERMICOMPOSTING TECHNOLOGY USING EISENIA FOETIDA

Dr. Abul Kalam*

ABSTRACT

Parthenium is a poisonous weed which is pernicious and allergic. It causes serious problems to human being and livestock. At present it is one of the most troubleshooting and obnoxious weed of wasteland forest, agricultural land and cause nuisance to mankind. Parthenium is a very dominant weed in all over India in general and Karnataka, Tamilnadu West Bengal in particular. Chemically parthenin is one of the main toxic substances present in the weed and is the causative factor for many problems. The complete eradication of these weeds is very difficult and costly. Various attempts have been taken to control, utilize or destroy Parthenium weed but found unsuccessful. The main objective of this study is to find an alternative biological, ecologically sustainable and economically viable technology to combat the Parthenium weed from the surrounding environment. The green matters of these weeds have tremendous potential for being used organic manure. In the present investigation an attempts has been made to try Parthenium biomass as a substrate for vermicomposting and to study the adverse effects of the product, if any, in soil The results show that by using Parthenium as a substrate for vermicomposting along with cow dung and press mud show good source of biofertilizer. It shows more or less similar results as compared to straw as a raw substrate. Total microbial count and dehydrogenase activity was found more or less similar in both straw vermicompost & Parthenium vermicompost. For any toxicity Seed germination rate, plant biomass, plant length and flowering parameter were taken for study. Germination rate is found to be more or less 100% both. Plant length, plant biomass and flowering ability have very negligible difference between these two composts.

Keywords: Parthenium, weed, vermicomposting, dehydrogenase, germination.