ABSTRACT
The importance of earthworms as biological material for research is about ¤ve decades old in the Indian subcontinent. Among papers on earthworms by Indian scientists are the works of Joshi and Kelkar (1952) and Nijhawan and Kanwar (1952), who highlighted the mobilization of N in earthworm casts and the physicochemical properties of earthworm casts that differed from surrounding soil under ¤eld conditions. Other reports are on maintaining earthworm cultures (Tambe and Dubash 1961; Bhat 1974) and microbial associations in earthworm-worked materials (Khambata
CONTENTS
I Introduction .................................................................................................. 453 II Development of Vermiculture Technology in India ..................................... 454 III Vermicompost Production ............................................................................ 457 IV Larger-Scale Commercial Development of Vermicomposting in India ....... 459 V Vermicompost to Support Sustainable Agriculture ......................................460
