Earthworm Ecology and Environment

Contents: Foreword. Preface. I. Earthworm taxonomy, diversity and population: 1. Density, diversity and population dynamics of earthworm species in Bareilly region of Uttar Pradesh State/Satyendra M. Singh, Om Prakash and Geeta R. Gangwar. 2. A study on the biodiversity of earthworms in and around Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)/Dheeraj Agrawal and O.P. Agrawal. 3. Molecular profiling-- a tool for assessing population genetics of earthworms/R. Meenatchi, R.S. Giraddi and D.P. Biradar. II. Utility and significance of earthworms: 4. Earthworm technology--a promising tool for second Green Revolution/Priyasankar Chaudhuri. 5. Significance of earthworms in past, present and future perspectives/O.P Agrawal. 6. Therapeutic values of earthworm paste/L.S. Rangnathan, M. Balamurugan and K. Parthasarathi. 7. Earthworm culture--an eco-friendly way of improving soil productivity/B.K. Dikshit. III. Earthworms in Agro ecosystems: 8. Impact of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantation on the earthworm communities in Tripura (India)/P.S. Chaudhuri and Subhalaxmi Bhattacharjee. 9. Economic and environmental potential of Tasar silkworm and earthworm interaction in a forest eco-system/K.V. Shankar Rao. IV. Earthworms in waste management: 10. Vermicomposting of municipal (organic) solid waste and its implications/M. Vikram Reddy and Swati Pattnaik. 11. Composting of paper mill sludge using native earthworms and impact on the growth and yield parameters of black gram, Vigna mungo/S. Umamaheswari, V. Balamurugan and G.S. Vijayalakshmi. 12. Biomanagement of banana packing waste using an epigeic earthworm, Eisenia fetida/Satyendra M. Singh, Geeta R. Gangwar and Om Prakash. 13. Vermicomposting of cereal and vegetable crop wastes using Perionyx excavatus/A.K. Sannigrahi. 14. A primary study on vermicomposting of acidic substrate through microbial management/Souri Roy, G.N. Chattopadhyay and Sujit Mal. 15. Vermicomposting of seri farm waste by the mulberry sericultural farmers of Orissa state/B.K. Dikshit and K.M. Purohit. 16. Vermicomposting of seri farm wastes--an ecofriendly approach for sustainable soil fertility management and rain fed mulberry productivity in Koraput district of Orissa/K.M. Purohit and B.K. Dikshit. 17. Effect of earthworm mono and polycultures on recycling of non-mulberry seri wastes under Chhattisgarh hygrothermic conditions/K.V. Shankar Rao and G.P. Mohobia. 18. Economic model of vermicompost production technology using mulberry seri waste/R. Sahu, K.V. Shankar Rao and K.C. Brahma. Index.

"The present book, Earthworm Ecology and Environment, owes its genesis to the First National Symposium on Earthworm Ecology and Environment held at Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) in April 2007. At this Symposium, attended by nearly 110 scientists from all over the country, 80 research presentations were made in eight different sessions. Out of the total presentations, 18 invited research papers have been selected and edited to form chapters of the book. There are four sections in the book covering all the major aspects of earthworm biology, including earthworm taxonomy, diversity and their multifarious usages in maintaining soil fertility, increasing crop productivity, improving human health and saving environment from solid waste contaminations. These contributions by distinguished earthworm biologists of the country represent the state of the art summary of the ecology and importance of earthworms in Indian context and should be highly valuable not only to the soil scientists alone but also to the environmentalists, ecologists, policy makers, farmers and students in long term maintenance of soil structure, fertility and pollution abatement."