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bacteria. On the other hand low C:N ratio will led to loss of the nitrogen as in form of NH 3 to

atmosphere. The worms also hate the high concentration of ammonia and will escape from it.
Vermicompost process will progress properly by starting the process with a C:N ratio around

25-30 and it will decrease during the process. Carbon reduces because heterotrophic bacteria
use organic material as source of electron and carbon is oxidized to CO2 and releases to

atmosphere. However, bacterial nitrogen usage is so less than carbon and some kind of bacteria
can stabilize atmospheric nitrogen into compost such as Rhizobium. Also, autotrophic bacteria

use ammonia as source of electron and convert it to nitrite and nitrate which remain in compost

unless an anoxic condition occurs. In this condition nitrate and nitrite reduced and nitrogen
releases to atmosphere as N2 [23, 40].

4.1.7. Phosphorus: Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant growth and is utilised for
protein formation, metabolism, photosynthesis, seed germination and flower and fruit

formation. However, phosphorus in soil is in mineral form, readily available to plants, but the

potential activity of earthworms and phosphate-solubilising microorganisms increases the
availability of phosphorus for plants [41, 42].

The increase in total phosphorus during vermicomposting is thought to be due to the
mineralization and mobilisation of phosphorus as a result of the bacterial and faecal

phosphatase activity of earthworms. As organic matter passes through the worm intestine, some

phosphorus is converted to a more useful form thanks to the enzyme phosphatase, and further
release is thought to be due to microorganisms dissolving the phosphorus present in the castings.

Earthworm activity is known to accelerate the conversion of organic phosphorus into the plant-
available form of phosphorus. There are numerous scientific studies showing that the treatment

of different waste materials with vermicompost leads to an increase in readily extractable
phosphorus by 12–21% [43].

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