Considering these facts, the present study was carried out to assess the nutrient release pattern from vermicompost in two contrasting soils (floodplain and terrace) under anaerobic conditions and to explore the performance of the compost on growth and yield improvement of wetland rice. Since the mineralization of nutrients under anaerobic conditions is quite different from that of aerobic conditions, and soil properties could change mineralization, it is necessary to examine these for optimizing the rate of organic and inorganic fertilize use. Although the latter is examined in many studies, there are few reports on the mineralization pattern of nutrients from vermicompost under anaerobic wetland situations and its use in wetland rice farming. In the last few decades, a number of studies have been performed by many researchers to investigate the performance of vermicompost mainly on agronomic parameters of rice, i.e., improvement of growth and yield. Nowadays, with the rise of the availability of feed stocks for vermicomposting, vermicompost application show promise to partially replace chemical fertilizers in the production of cereal crops such as rice. Given that, vermicompost technology is getting popular in farming communities throughout southeast Asia, particularly in the rural regions mostly used for vegetable cultivation. Since vermicompost contains readily available plant nutrients, such as nitrates, exchangeable phosphate, soluble potassium, calcium and magnesium, growth hormones and beneficial enzymes, it is considered a good soil amendment. Moreover, it has high porosity and moisture-holding capacity and increased microbial activity that rejuvenate soils. Vermicompost is efficient in maintaining adequate soil fertility and productivity as it carries nutrients and stabilized, fine, peat-like organic manure having a low C:N ratio. Recently, composting using earthworms (e.g., Eisenia foetida) has been receiving increased attention since it is both ecofriendly and cost-effective. Moreover, it decreases transportation costs due to a significant reduction in the moisture level of the raw materials. Composting is a controlled bio-oxidation process of biomass that converts it into a safer and more stable product and thereby lessens the environmental risk for soil application. Organic manure preparation involves composting of organic or biowaste. Altogether, our results suggest that vermicompost could increase crop performance under field conditions, and, although these effects may not be significant in short-term incubation studies, they may be even larger in floodplain soil. We believe that this occurred due to an improvement in supply and subsequent uptake of nutrients, especially N and P. Specifically, combined application of mineral nutrients and vermicompost (10 t ha −1) significantly increased grain yield by 25% compared to the control treatment. The performance of Boro rice in terms of yield and yield attributes improved significantly in the case of the integrated application of vermicompost with mineral fertilizer. Results showed that there were significant increases in nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) release in floodplain soil but not in terrace soil, suggesting that nutrient release from vermicompost is soil-dependent. highly weathered terrace soil and very young floodplain soil, were subjected to anaerobic incubation, while the field trial was conducted in the terrace soil with control (no amendments), mineral fertilizer, vermicompost (10 t ha −1) + mineral fertilizer, cow dung (10 t ha −1) + mineral fertilizer, vermicompost (20 t ha −1) + mineral fertilizer and vermicompost (local farmer’s practice) + mineral fertilizer treatments. Here, an anaerobic incubation study and a field study were conducted to observe the nutrient release pattern from vermicompost and its influence on performance and nutrient uptake in wetland rice. Although its mechanism of action, particularly under wetland condition, is not clearly understood, vermicompost, a good source of humus and plant nutrients, has been used as organic manure in many parts of the world in order to increase crop production.
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