Enrichment of vermicomposts prepared from cow dung spiked solid textile mill sludge using nitrogen fixing and phosphate solubilizing bacteria

Textile mill waste can be vermicomposted if it is mixed in the range of 20-30% with cow dung. This article reports the effect of inoculation, of nitrogen fixing Azotobacter chroococcum strain; Azospirillum brasilense strain and phosphate solubilizing Pseudomonas maltophila, on nitrogen and phosphorus content of vermicomposts prepared from cow dung (CD) and cow dung spiked textile mill sludge (CD + STMS). The CD vermicompost was more supportive to the growth and multiplication of all the three bacteria than CD + STMS vermicompost. In Azotobacter chroococcum treated vermicomposts maximum nitrogen content was recorded between 45 and 60 days [CD vermicompost (25.9 ± 0.45 g kg -1) and CD + STMS vermicompost (20.6 ± 0.62 g kg -1)] followed by Azospirillum brasilense inoculation [CD vermicompost (19.4 ± 0.60 g kg-1) and CD + STMS vermicompost (18.6 ± 0.17 g kg-1)]. Phosphorus content in Pseudomonas maltophila inoculated CD vermicompost was 20.8 ± 0.20 g kg-1 and CD + STMS vermicompost was 13.4 ± 0.45 g kg-1 after 75th day of inoculation. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.