Utilization of vermicompost as a soil amendment in organic crop production.

The use of vermicompost (VC) has long been recognized as an effective means of increasing crop yields through improved soil physical, chemical and biological properties. Since synthetic mineral fertilizers are disallowed in organic crop production, there has been a renewed interest in recycling wastes into valuable organic fertilizer through vermicomposting and its subsequent utilization in organic crop production. This review summarizes published data on influence of VC on productivity and quality of crops and on soil properties particularly under organic management. Several researchers have reported that VC application give marginally lower or comparable crop growth and yield under organic management compared with that of mineral fertilizers. Furthermore, it has been well established that VC application significantly improves overall health of soil. Hence, VC has the potential to become a major soil amendment in organic crop production. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________