Manipulating Chicken Waste for Improved Vermicomposting Substrate

Vermicomposting is a sustainable waste management and effective technique for using agricultural residue. Nowadays, poultry industries have overgrown around the world. The problem that arises from poultry industries due to the inappropriate disposal of chicken wastes is environmental pollution and groundwater contamination, which creates odours, promotes fly and rodent breeding, and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Proper chicken waste management was essential to reduce the effect and contamination on the environment and humans. Therefore, this study uses chicken waste to enhance its suitability as a vermicomposting substrate. Different approaches to manipulating chicken waste, including varying ratios of chicken dung and chicken feathers as a medium in vermicomposting, were investigated to determine their effects on the vermicomposting process and the quality of the resulting compost. The results showed that all chicken waste treatments were suitable for use as a vermicomposting medium. However, T1(6MMR: 3CD: 1BT) was the most suitable medium for vermicomposting, indicating its effectiveness in converting chicken waste into valuable compost through vermicomposting and has the highest growth and reproduction of earthworms compared to the other treatments.