ABSTRACT
The importance of biological processes in the management and recycling of organic wastes has been widely recognized; this chapter deals with vermicomposting, which is one of the most efficient methods for converting solid organic materials into environmentally friendly, useful, and valuable products for crop production. Vermicomposting is an accelerated process of biooxidation and stabilization of organic wastes that involves interactions between earthworms and microorganisms. Although Darwin (1881) already drew attention to the great importance of earthworms in the breakdown of organic matter from dead plants and the release of nutrients from them, it was necessary to wait almost 100 years until this concept was taken seriously as a technology or even a field of scientific knowledge. After 2 decades of research and technical development on vermicomposting, it is still necessary to depend on a series of fundamental aspects to understand how the process works.
