Effect of microbial inoculation during vermicomposting of different organic substrates on microbial status and quantification and documentation of acid phosphatase.

In this experiment, three microbial strains were inoculated in two different organic wastes to study their effect on the humic acids content, acid phosphatase activity and microbial properties of the final stabilized products. Pyrophosphate extract of vermicomposts were analyzed through polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to study the nature of a isozymes in different treatments. Results suggested that vermicomposting increased humic acids content and acid phosphatase activity in organic substrates and microbial inoculation further enhanced the rate of humification and enzyme activity. Although humic acids content in different microorganism-inoculated vermicomposts were statistically at par, acid phosphatase activity in these treatments was significantly (P<0.05) different. Results revealed that microbial respiration was increased due to vermicomposting, but a reduction in microbial biomass was recorded after stabilization of organic wastes. Although vermicomposting increased the value of microbial quotient (qCO(2)), microbial inoculation did not show any significant effect on qCO(2). The zymogram revealed that two isozymes of acid phosphatase (group II and group III) were present in all vermicompost samples and higher acid phosphatase activity in fungi-inoculated vermicomposts might be due to the presence of an additional isozyme (group I) of acid phosphatase.

Changes in organic - C, N, P and K and enzyme activities in vermicompost of biodegradable organic wastes under liming and microbial inoculants.

The aim of this work was to study the effect of different organic wastes, viz. cow dung, grass, aquatic weeds and municipal solid waste with lime and microbial inoculants on chemical and biochemical properties of vermicompost. Cow dung was the best substrate for vermicomposting. Application of lime (5 g/kg) and inoculation of microorganisms increased the nutrient content in vermicompost and also phosphatases and urease activities. Bacillus polymyxa, the free-living N-fixer, increased N-content of vermicompost significantly (p < or = 0.01) as compared to other inoculants.