Status, Trends, and Advances in Earthworm Research and Vermitechnology
1Department of Biotechnology, VMKV Engineering College, Vinayaka Missions University, Salem 636-308, Tamil Nadu, India
2Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore 560-065, Karnataka, India
3Department of Biology, Gandhigram Rural University, Gandhigram 624-302, Tamil Nadu, India
4Department of Crop Science and Technology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh
5Physiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, Center of Basic Sciences, Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, 20100 Aguascalientes, Mexico
Status, Trends, and Advances in Earthworm Research and Vermitechnology
Description
Charles Darwin's observation on earthworms is a milestone in understanding the soil biology and an enormous contribution to some aspects of the genesis of humus and of its role in soils. Earthworms are perhaps the best known of all soil inhabiting animals commonly called “friends of farmers” due to the beneficial role that they play in soil. The research on earthworms has gained a lot of priority in India as well as in other countries. In 1981, an international symposium entitled Earthworm Ecology: Darwin to Vermiculture was held at Cumbria, UK, to commemorate the centenary celebration of Darwin's book The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, With Observations on Their Habits that was published in 1881 by Murray, London, UK. In 2000, another international workshop and symposium was held at Kalamazoo, USA, to understand the progress achieved in this field after the 1991 meeting called Vermillenium. Exhaustive research works have been conducted and are being conducted on the significant role of earthworms and vermitechnology all over the world. Presently, there exists lacuna in providing complete, collective, and up-to-date knowledge and recent trends in earthworm research and vermitechnology. With the increasing concern toward this subject and the accessibility of more new researches in the future, the knowledge of status, trends, and advances in earthworm research and vermitechnology is highly relevant to the new research directions in the field worldwide.
We invite authors to present review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts in defining the role of earthworms and vermitechnology in sustainable environmental management and other related issues. The topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:
- Ecology, diversity, and biogeography of earthworms
- Role of earthworms in soil nutrient dynamics
- Earthworms as soil indicators
- Toxicity testing and assessment using earthworms
- Earthworm-microbe interaction
- In situ vermiculture
- Vermitechnology and waste management
- Utilization of vermicompost in horticulture, agriculture, and so forth
- Bioethical and biosafe usage of vermitechnology
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