MSc.

The study on Utilization of elephant dung for vermicompost production was undertaken at College of Horticulture Vellanikkara during the period 2009-11. The experiment was done to understand the influence of macro and micro fauna on the in situ decomposition of elephant dung and to investigate the manurial value of biotically enriched elephant dung. In order to attain the objective three separate experiments were conducted in a phased manner.
The first experiment included the investigation of the role of macro and micro fauna on the in situ decomposition of elephant dung and isolation of native microbes efficient in lignocellulose degradation. In order to study the effect of macro and micro fauna on the in situ decomposition of elephant dung, a field monitoring was undertaken by identifying six stages of degradation of dung viz. more than one year old (E1), one year old (E2), eight months old (E3), four months old (E4), and fresh sample constituting of body washings (E5) and faecal bolus (E6). The results revealed that the temperature of degrading dung was always higher than atmospheric temperature indicating that natural decomposition was a continuos process. Higher microbial activity was observed in fresh dung which resulted in lowering the C: N ratio of old dung. Among the native microbes isolated from the dung, bacteria were found to have a predominant role in lignocellulose degradation.
The second experiment mainly included the characterization of physico chemical and biochemical properties of elephant dung. The manurial value of elephant dung was estimated as 48.18% C, 0.86% N, 0.34% P, 0.37% K+, 0.19% Ca2+, 0.05% Mg2+ and 0.25% Na+ with a pH value of 6.9. Dung was rich in crude fibre (21.4%) and low in crude fat (2.8%). Cellulose, hemi cellulose and lignin fractions were accounted as 35.8, 30.1 and 17.5 per cent respectively.
The third experiment was vermicomposting which was done to identify the suitable microbial decomposers for pre-composting and the best substrate controlled environment for the same. The experiment was conducted in factorial CRD with two factors and two replications. Eudrillus euginae was used as the compost worms. The different factors involved are the microbes and substrates at different levels. The factor without microbes was compared with Pleurotus platypus, combination of Aspergillus flavus and Bacillus subtilis and native microbes. Different substrate levels used for vermicomposting included FYM and banana pseudostem in 1:1 and 1:8 proportion, FYM and elephant dung in 1:1 and 1:8 ,elephant dung and FYM in 1:1 and 1:8. Based on the daily observation of the compost pile of elephant dung, four stages of composting namely thermophilic (10-15 days), mesophilic (25-30 days), cooling (5-8 days) and maturity (5-10 days) were identified. After thermophilic stage worms were introduced and found that substrate combination of FYM: ED (1:8) recorded seven to eight fold multiplication in earth worm population and a maturity period of 56 days which was on par with the substrate composition of FYM: ED (1:1), recording 54 days (on an average). The biotically enriched dung also recorded the manurial value of 10.78% C, 1.34% N, 0.66% P, and 0.61% K+. 0.67% Ca2+. 0.04% Mg 2+and 0.12% Na+ with a pH value of 7.3. Among the microbes used, consortium of Aspergillus flavus and Bacillus subtilis, was found to be efficient in lignocellulose degradation which was on par with Pleurotus platypus.
The FYM & elephant dung in the ratio 1: 8 must be pre composted with Aspergillus flavus and Bacillus subtilis in order to reduce the maturity period of compost. Moreover the same treatment recorded high rate of microbial activity, maximum earth worm multiplication rate and high nitrogen, phosphorous and calcium status with minimum maturity days for composting. Regarding the practical utility of work, it was found that a benefit cost ratio of 1.2 was estimated for vermicomposting of elephant dung using a tank (1m3 ) of 300 kg capacity and with the introduction of 1500 earthworms for a period of 50- 60 days with the help of effective lignocellulose degraders, Aspergillus flavus and Bacillus subtilis