Table Of ContentSartaj Ahmad Bhat
Adarsh Pal Vig
Fusheng Li
Balasubramani Ravindran Editors
Earthworm
Assisted
Remediation
of Effluents and
Wastes
fl
Earthworm Assisted Remediation of Ef uents
and Wastes
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Sartaj Ahmad Bhat Adarsh Pal Vig
(cid:129)
Fusheng Li Balasubramani Ravindran
Editors
Earthworm Assisted
fl
Remediation of Ef uents
and Wastes
Editors
SartajAhmadBhat AdarshPalVig
RiverBasinResearchCenter BotanicalandEnvironmentalSciences
GifuUniversity GuruNanakDevUniversity
Gifu,Japan Punjab,India
FushengLi BalasubramaniRavindran
RiverBasinResearchCenter DepartmentofEnvironmentalEnergy
GifuUniversity andEngineering
Gifu,Japan KyonggiUniversity
Suwon,SouthKorea
ISBN978-981-15-4521-4 ISBN978-981-15-4522-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4522-1
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Preface
Waterisoneoftheessentialrequirementsforalloxygen-dependentlivingorganisms
becausewatercanregulatephysicalandchemicalparameters.Approximately,71%
of the planet is covered by water and oceans contain 96.5% of earth’s water. The
main resource of water includes rainwater, wells, streams, natural springs, ocean,
and rivers. In the last few decades, there is a rapid development of human
populationsandindustrialrevolutions.Accordingly,variousindustriesarereleased
wastewater/effluent which generates serious environmental problems, especially
water pollution. On the other hand, indiscriminate usage of synthetic fertilizers for
crop production, during rainy days can migrate into the water bodies which also
cause water pollution. In addition, water pollution can affect living organisms and
altertheoverallfoodchain.
Nowadays, a huge amount of wastewater sludge/solid wastes are produced by
variousindustriesandhumanbeings.Thesesludge/solidwastescontainasignificant
amount of hazardous materials that generate soil pollution. In soil, hazardous
pollutantsarepotentiallytoxictolivingorganisms,andtheyalterthechemicaland
biologicalreactions.Currently,variouspeopleshavebeenusingnumerousmethods
(likephysical,chemical,andbiologicalmethods)tocombatwaterandsoilpollution,
butthesemethodscontainseveraldisadvantages.Therefore,thereisurgentrequire-
mentofcost-effectiveandenvironment-friendlytechniquestoremediatepollutants.
This book “Earthworm Assisted Remediation of Effluents and Wastes” introduces
various remediation strategies. For example, vermifiltration of wastewater/effluent
employing earthworms is a recently established “novel” technology. This term
filtration technology is based on the capability of worms to consume and break
down various organic waste materials and heavy metals from effluent, and their
capacitytoremovedifferentpollutantsfromeffluentbyabsorptionviabodywallsof
theearthworms.Vermifiltrationisaneffectiveandenvironment-friendlytechnology
for wastewater/effluent treatment.Inaddition, earthworms caneliminate toxichaz-
ardous materials from solid wastes and also enhance the microbial populations
which stimulate crop production. Internal body of the earthworms has
metallothioneins,proteinthatcanbindwithheavymetalions,andalsoanearthworm
v
vi Preface
detoxifiesthevarious soilpollutants. Thisbook contributed byan interdisciplinary
group of water and soil scientists which provides new knowledge in the field of
environmental pollution. We wish to thank all of the referees, who generously
contributed their time and talent to maintain the high quality of this volume. We
also express our thanks to the springer nature for their invaluable support and
cooperationinthepublicationofthebook.
Gifu,Japan SartajAhmadBhat
Amritsar,Punjab,India AdarshPalVig
Gifu,Japan FushengLi
Suwon,SouthKorea BalasubramaniRavindran
Contents
PartI WastewaterAlone
1 ApplicabilityofVermifiltrationforWastewaterTreatment
andRecycling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Bhavini,KavitaKanaujia,AmberTrivedi,andSubrataHait
2 VermifiltrationforRuralWastewaterTreatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
MeenaKhwairakpam
3 TreatmentofWastewaterbyVermifiltrationIntegrated
withPlants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
AnuBalaChowdhary,JahangeerQuadar,BhaskarSingh,
andJaswinderSingh
PartII WastewaterSludgeAlone
4 RecyclingofMunicipalSludgebyVermicomposting. . . . . . . . . . . . 55
KuiHuang,HuiXia,FushengLi,andSartajAhmadBhat
5 InfluenceofDistillerySludge-BasedVermicompostonthe
NutritionalStatusofRapanussativusL.(Radish). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
SusilaSugumar,TamilselviDuraisamy,SelvakumarMuniraj,
RamarajanSelvam,andVasanthyMuthunarayanan
PartIII WastewaterandSludge/SolidandLiquidWaste
6 Vermitechnology:ASustainableApproachintheManagement
ofSolidandLiquidWaste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
SoubamIndrakumarSingh,DeachenAngmo,andRahilDutta
7 NaturalBiologicalTreatmentofEffluentandSludgestoCombat
theBurdenofWaste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
DeachenAngmo,RahilDutta,SoubamIndraKumar,
andAngelikaSharma
vii
viii Contents
PartIV GeneralOrganic/InorganicandChemicalWaste
8 VermicompostsAreBiologicallyDifferent:Microbial
andFunctionalDiversityofGreenVermicomposts. . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
MaríaGómez-Brandón,ManuelAira,andJorgeDomínguez
9 VermicompostingTreatmentofFruitandVegetableWaste
andtheEffectoftheAdditionofExcessActivatedSludge. . . . . . . . 141
WenjiaoLi,SartajAhmadBhat,YongfenWei,andFushengLi
10 Eco-managementofIndustrialOrganicWastesThroughthe
ModifiedInnovativeVermicompostingProcess:ASustainable
ApproachinTropicalCountries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
RamKumarGangulyandSusantaKumarChakraborty
11 GrowthandReproductiveBiologyofEarthwormsinOrganic
WasteBreakdownUndertheIndianCondition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
PriyasankarChaudhuriandSusmitaDebnath
12 VermicompostingofPartheniumhysterophorusL.:ASolution
toWeedMenaceinTerrestrialEcosystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
DeepshikhaSharmaandAnuBalaChowdhary
13 EvaluatingMethodofMicaWasteApplicationinEarthworm
Cast-TreatedSoilforEnhancingPotassiumAvailabilitytothe
PlantswithReferencetoTea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
PrabhatPramanik,ChayanikaKalita,PallabiKalita,andAnupJyoti
Goswami
14 PGPRandEarthworm-AssistedPhytoremediationofHeavy
Metals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
PoojaSharma,PalakBakshi,JaspreetKour,ArunDevSingh,
ShaliniDhiman,PardeepKumar,Ibrahim,AshutoshSharma,
BilalAhmadMir,andRenuBhardwaj
15 WasteManagementPracticesandTheirImpactonEarthworms. . 247
HarsimranKaur,PuttagantiVijaya,andSumanSharma
16 ToxicityandHistopathologicalEffectofDistilleryIndustrial
SludgeontheEarthwormEudriluseugeniae. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
SusilaSugumar,SelvakumarMuniraj,TamilselviDuraisamy,
RamarajanSelvam,andVasanthyMuthunarayanan
17 Earthworm-AssistedAmeliorationofThermalAsh. . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
BhawanaSohalandAdarshPalVig
Contents ix
PartV Soil
18 SomePerspectivesonVermicompostUtilizationinOrganic
Agriculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
HupenyuA.Mupambwa,BalasuramaniRavindran,ErnestDube,
NoxoloS.Lukashe,AsteriaA.N.Katakula,
andPearsonN.S.Mnkeni
19 EarthwormCommunitiesandSoilStructuralProperties. . . . . . . . 333
SharanpreetSingh,JaswinderSingh,AdarshPalVig,
FalwinderVerma,andSurindraSuthar
20 EffectofMethylParathionontheGrowthandReproduction
ofEiseniafetidainNaturalSoil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
AnkuritaNathandSubrataHait
About the Editors
Sartaj Ahmad Bhat is working as Post-doctoral Researcher in the River Basin
Research Center, Gifu University, Japan. He received his Ph.D. for Environmental
Sciences from Guru Nanak Dev University, India in 2017. He is efficient in waste
management techniques, especially towards the vermicomposting and substrate
compatibility, nutrient enrichment and heavy metal accumulation dynamics. So
far, Dr. Bhat has authored more than 30 research publications in peer-reviewed
internationaljournals.Heisalsoaneditor,editorialboardmemberandreviewerof
many international reputed journals published by PLOS, De Gruyter, Springer,
SAGE, MDPI, Elsevier and Taylor and Francis. He has been recently awarded as
aTopPeerReviewer2019inEnvironmentandEcologybyPublonsWebofScience
Groupandhasmorethan200verifiedreviewstohiscredit.
Adarsh Pal Vig is a Professor and former Head, Department of Botanical and
Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India. Dr. Vig is
havingteachingandresearchexperienceofmorethan26years,about105publica-
tions in National/International journals with a h-index of 21 and had supervised
10Ph.D.students.Hisresearchmainlyfocusesonbiologicaltreatmenttechnologies
foragriculturalandindustrialwastes.HehasbeenawardedDistinguishedTeachers
Award, 2012 and Environmentalist of the Year, 2016 & 2018. Presently also
working as Director of UGC—Human Resource Development Centre and Project
coordinator,FDCandNRCunderPanditMadanMohanMalviyaNationalMission
onTeachersandTeaching,MHRD,Govt.ofIndia,atGuruNanakDevUniversity.
Fusheng Li is a Professor in the Division of Water System Safety and Security
Studies and the Graduate School of Engineering at Gifu University, Japan. He
received his BS degree for environmental engineering from Lanzhou Jiaotong
University of China in 1986, MS degree from Kitami Institute of Technology of
Japan in 1994 and PhD degree from Gifu University of Japan in 1998. Dr. Li is
directing the Division of Water Quality Studies that covers the fields from water
quality to water and wastewater treatment, and recently to resource and energy
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