ABSTRACT
Research in the United States (Hartenstein et al. 1979; Edwards and Neuhauser 1988) and the United Kingdom (Edwards 2004) has shown that some epigeic species of earthworms such as Eisenia fetida, Perionyx excavatus, Eudrilus eugeniae, and Dendrobaena veneta can be used to break down a range of organic wastes, such as sewage biosolids, animal manures, food wastes, and organic industrial wastes into vermicomposts and can also be used as sources of animal feed protein (Edwards
CONTENTS
II Introduction .................................................................................................. 323 II Potential Protein Food Value of Earthworms ...............................................324 III Growth of Earthworms in Animal Wastes ................................................... 324 IV Methods of Production of Earthworms ........................................................ 326 V Harvesting of Earthworms from Organic Wastes ........................................ 327 VI Processing of Earthworms for Animal Feed ................................................ 328 VII Processing of Earthworm Pastes .................................................................. 328
A Blanching ............................................................................................... 328 B Formic Acid Ensilation .......................................................................... 329 C Dry Earthworm Meals ........................................................................... 329
VIII Animal-Feeding Trials with Earthworm Protein ......................................... 330 A Fish-Feeding Trials ................................................................................ 330 B Chicken-Feeding Trials ......................................................................... 330 C Pig-Feeding Trials ................................................................................. 332
IX Economics of Earthworm-Protein Production ............................................. 332 X Conclusions ................................................................................................... 333 References .............................................................................................................. 333
1983). The ¤rst scientists to suggest that earthworms contained suf¤cient protein to be considered as animal food or sources of feed protein were Lawrence and Millar (1945), and in recent years, full analyses of the body tissues of earthworms that have become available fully support this conclusion. The ¤rst successful animal-feeding trials were organized on chicken and suckling pigs (Sabine 1978), and there have been many later similar trials.
