The influence of red worms (E. Foetida) on compost’s fertilizing properties

Composting is becoming a more and more common way of biodegradable waste disposal. Composts should be characterized by high content of nutrients and low amount of pollutants. Vermicompost is a compost produced by overpopulated culture of earthworm Eisenia foetida (Savigny 1826). World scientific literature states that vermicompost has a high fertilizing value which often exceeds such value of conventional composts. The results showed that vermicompost has a much higher fertilizing value than the compost produced by the traditional pile method. However, prism vermicompost created with the participation of a less concentrated population of earthworms has an intermediate value as a fertilizer (nitrogen and heavy metals), it could be assessed as a lower value product due to the lower content of potassium and phosphorus than the material obtained without earthworms