Philippine E-Journals

Paper Waste as A Substrates for African Night Crawler (Eudrilus eugeniae)

Janice L. Julian | Francisca A. Dalmacia | Diana T. Managuelod | Loycel M. Sigua | Jojo Managuelod | Desiry M. Pugong | Yolina T. Castañeto

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

The increasing generation of paper waste presents significant environmental challenges. Vermicomposting offers a sustainable means of recycling biodegradable materials through earthworm activity. This study evaluated the growth, reproduction and ver-micompost yield of the African Night Crawler (Eudrilus eugeniae) cultured on various paper waste substrates combined with ma-nure. A Completely Randomized Design with six treatments and four replications was used: swine manure (control) and cow ma-nure mixed with clean bond, used bond, notebook, carton, and newspaper wastes. Data on Eudrilus eugeniae proliferation, egg production, bio-mass, vermicompost yield, unconsumed substrate, and percent re-covery were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test at 5% significance (p < 0.05). Results showed that combining cow ma-nure with paper wastes significantly improved E. eugeniae perfor-mance compared to the swine manure control(T1). E. eugeniae number increased from 112.25 (T1) to 808 (T5), egg production from 8.25 (T1) to 486 (T4), and vermicompost yield from 375 g (T1) to 1925 g (T4). Percent recovery peaked at 96.25% in T4, while unconsumed substrate was lowest (187.5 g). The carton and cow manure and newspaper and cow manure combinations yielded the best results, confirming their suitability as effective substrates for vermicomposting. The study concludes that cow manure-based mixtures, particu-larly with carton or used bond paper, provide optimal conditions for E. eugeniae and produce high-quality vermicompost. These findings highlight vermicomposting as a dual strategy for waste re-duction and soil fertility improvement.