Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891)

E. O. Dada; K. L. Njoku; A. A. Osuntoki; M. O. Akinola

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12

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Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891)

E. O. Dada, K. L. Njoku, A. A. Osuntoki, M. O. Akinola

Published in American Journal of Life Sciences (Volume 1, Issue 4)

Published: 20 July 2013

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Abstract

Earthworms are becoming increasingly useful in solving human and environmental problems. In addition to biomonitoring and soil fertility renewing roles, they are now used as livestock feed, therapeutic agents and soil contaminants remover. It is therefore imperative to encourage more earthworm culture research. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which container types and soil amendments affect the breeding of Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891 in the laboratory. The earthworm species was cultured in loamy sandy soil amended with different proportions of cow dung inside earthenware, plastic and wooden pots for a period of twelve weeks in the laboratory. The data generated were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) using the general linear model (GLM) multivariate tests. These tests indicated that both pot and soil types had significant influence on L. violaceus culture. The effects of pot type was more significant (Lambda = 0.114, p < 0.001) compared to soil type (Lambda = 0.302, p < 0.001). Follow-up univariate analysis of variance indicated that pot type had more significant influence on final earthworm number (F = 68.74, p < 0.001) than the final weight (F = 7.14, p < 0.005). While soil type had a strong significant influence on the final number of earthworms (F = 12.24, p < 0.001), its influence on the final weight was not significant (F = 2.20, p > 0.05). Wooden pot had the highest mean final earthworm number (76.50 ± 20.27), followed by earthenware pot (61.75 ± 16.43). Loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung had the highest mean final earthworm number in the three types of pot, 82.67 ± 11.93, 32.00 ± 7.00, and 94.00 ± 11.53 for earthenware, plastic and wooden pots respectively. These findings imply that if L. violaceus must be cultured ex situ, wooden pot should be preferred above earthenware and plastic, while loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung should be preferred over other soil amendments.

Published in	American Journal of Life Sciences (Volume 1, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12
Page(s)	150-154
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cow Dung, Pot Types, Soil Types, Vermiculture

References

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E. O. Dada, K. L. Njoku, A. A. Osuntoki, M. O. Akinola. (2013). Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891). American Journal of Life Sciences, 1(4), 150-154. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12

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ACS Style

E. O. Dada; K. L. Njoku; A. A. Osuntoki; M. O. Akinola. Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891). Am. J. Life Sci. 2013, 1(4), 150-154. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12

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AMA Style

E. O. Dada, K. L. Njoku, A. A. Osuntoki, M. O. Akinola. Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891). Am J Life Sci. 2013;1(4):150-154. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12,
  author = {E. O. Dada and K. L. Njoku and A. A. Osuntoki and M. O. Akinola},
  title = {Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891)},
  journal = {American Journal of Life Sciences},
  volume = {1},
  number = {4},
  pages = {150-154},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20130104.12},
  abstract = {Earthworms are becoming increasingly useful in solving human and environmental problems. In addition to biomonitoring and soil fertility renewing roles, they are now used as livestock feed, therapeutic agents and soil contaminants remover. It is therefore imperative to encourage more earthworm culture research. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which container types and soil amendments affect the breeding of Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891 in the laboratory. The earthworm species was cultured in loamy sandy soil amended with different proportions of cow dung inside earthenware, plastic and wooden pots for a period of twelve weeks in the laboratory. The data generated were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) using the general linear model (GLM) multivariate tests. These tests indicated that both pot and soil types had significant influence on L. violaceus culture. The effects of pot type was more significant (Lambda = 0.114, p  0.05). Wooden pot had the highest mean final earthworm number (76.50 ± 20.27), followed by earthenware pot (61.75 ± 16.43). Loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung had the highest mean final earthworm number in the three types of pot, 82.67 ± 11.93, 32.00 ± 7.00, and 94.00 ± 11.53 for earthenware, plastic and wooden pots respectively. These findings imply that if L. violaceus must be cultured ex situ, wooden pot should be preferred above earthenware and plastic, while loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung should be preferred over other soil amendments.},
 year = {2013}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891)
AU - E. O. Dada
AU - K. L. Njoku
AU - A. A. Osuntoki
AU - M. O. Akinola
Y1 - 2013/07/20
PY - 2013
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12
DO - 10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12
T2 - American Journal of Life Sciences
JF - American Journal of Life Sciences
JO - American Journal of Life Sciences
SP - 150
EP - 154
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2328-5737
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12
AB - Earthworms are becoming increasingly useful in solving human and environmental problems. In addition to biomonitoring and soil fertility renewing roles, they are now used as livestock feed, therapeutic agents and soil contaminants remover. It is therefore imperative to encourage more earthworm culture research. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which container types and soil amendments affect the breeding of Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891 in the laboratory. The earthworm species was cultured in loamy sandy soil amended with different proportions of cow dung inside earthenware, plastic and wooden pots for a period of twelve weeks in the laboratory. The data generated were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) using the general linear model (GLM) multivariate tests. These tests indicated that both pot and soil types had significant influence on L. violaceus culture. The effects of pot type was more significant (Lambda = 0.114, p 0.05). Wooden pot had the highest mean final earthworm number (76.50 ± 20.27), followed by earthenware pot (61.75 ± 16.43). Loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung had the highest mean final earthworm number in the three types of pot, 82.67 ± 11.93, 32.00 ± 7.00, and 94.00 ± 11.53 for earthenware, plastic and wooden pots respectively. These findings imply that if L. violaceus must be cultured ex situ, wooden pot should be preferred above earthenware and plastic, while loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung should be preferred over other soil amendments.
VL - 1
IS - 4
ER -

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Author Information

E. O. Dada

Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
K. L. Njoku

Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
A. A. Osuntoki

Department of Biochemistry, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
M. O. Akinola

Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

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E. O. Dada, K. L. Njoku, A. A. Osuntoki, M. O. Akinola. (2013). Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891). American Journal of Life Sciences, 1(4), 150-154. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12

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E. O. Dada; K. L. Njoku; A. A. Osuntoki; M. O. Akinola. Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891). Am. J. Life Sci. 2013, 1(4), 150-154. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12

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AMA Style

E. O. Dada, K. L. Njoku, A. A. Osuntoki, M. O. Akinola. Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891). Am J Life Sci. 2013;1(4):150-154. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12,
  author = {E. O. Dada and K. L. Njoku and A. A. Osuntoki and M. O. Akinola},
  title = {Effects of Container Types and Soil Organic Matter Proportions on the Culture of a Tropical Earthworm (Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891)},
  journal = {American Journal of Life Sciences},
  volume = {1},
  number = {4},
  pages = {150-154},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20130104.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20130104.12},
  abstract = {Earthworms are becoming increasingly useful in solving human and environmental problems. In addition to biomonitoring and soil fertility renewing roles, they are now used as livestock feed, therapeutic agents and soil contaminants remover. It is therefore imperative to encourage more earthworm culture research. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which container types and soil amendments affect the breeding of Libyodrilus violaceus Beddard, 1891 in the laboratory. The earthworm species was cultured in loamy sandy soil amended with different proportions of cow dung inside earthenware, plastic and wooden pots for a period of twelve weeks in the laboratory. The data generated were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) using the general linear model (GLM) multivariate tests. These tests indicated that both pot and soil types had significant influence on L. violaceus culture. The effects of pot type was more significant (Lambda = 0.114, p  0.05). Wooden pot had the highest mean final earthworm number (76.50 ± 20.27), followed by earthenware pot (61.75 ± 16.43). Loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung had the highest mean final earthworm number in the three types of pot, 82.67 ± 11.93, 32.00 ± 7.00, and 94.00 ± 11.53 for earthenware, plastic and wooden pots respectively. These findings imply that if L. violaceus must be cultured ex situ, wooden pot should be preferred above earthenware and plastic, while loamy soil amended with 25% cow dung should be preferred over other soil amendments.},
 year = {2013}
}

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