A new species of the megascolecid earthworm genus Pontodrilus Perrier, 1874, Pontodrilus longissimus sp. n., is described from seashores of Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. The new species differs from congeners, especially the cosmopolitan P. litoralis (Grube, 1855) in the size of the body, number of segments and the shape of the spermathecae. P. litoralis is redescribed, based on specimens collected from the same region and the same type of habitat. DNA fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I of both species were sequenced. Morphological as well as DNA sequence-based comparisons confirm that P. longissimus sp. n. is a lineage distinct from P. litoralis and in fact a new species. The illustrated descriptions are accompanied by a key to species of Pontodrilus.
This Special Volume of Zootaxa unites forty papers written in honor of the late András Zicsi (1928-2015), the eminent earthworm taxonomist. They deal with the taxonomy, systematics and distribution of earthworms and enchytraeids, the two major groups of soil-dwelling Oligochaeta. Altogether, 71 new species-group taxa are described, 60 species and subspecies of earthworms and 11 species of enchytraeids. They are from 15 countries all around the globe: Spain, Italy, Hungary, Turkey, Botswana, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Earthworm specimens collected from various parts of Thailand were found to contain seven new species of the genus Metaphire Sims & Easton, 1972. These are M. songkhlaensis sp. n. in the octothecal pulauensis species group, M. trangensis sp. n. in the octothecal ignobilis species group, M. khaoluangensis sp. n. and M. khaochamao sp. n. in the sexthecal houlleti species group, M. doiphamon sp. n. in the sexthecal peguana species group, M. saxicalcis sp. n. in the quadrithecal planata species group, and the bithecal M. surinensis sp. n. Type material of some established species from Thailand or northern Malaysia was reinvestigated and illustrated to confirm the status of the new species and to facilitate species comparisons: M. pulauensis (Beddard, 1900), M. baruana (Stephenson, 1932), both with newly designated lectotypes, and M. planata (Gates, 1936), illustrated and redescribed.
Spent Pleurotus sajor-caju compost mixed with livestock excreta, i.e. cow dung or goat manure, was contaminated with landfill leachate and vermiremediated in 75 days. Results showed an extreme decrease of heavy metals, i.e. Cd, Cr and Pb up to 99.81% removal as effect of vermiconversion process employing epigeic earthworms i.e. Lumbricus rubellus. In addition, there were increments of Cu and Zn from 15.01% to 85.63%, which was expected as non-accumulative in L. rubellus and secreted out as contained in vermicompost. This phenomenon is due to dual effects of heavy metal excretion period and mineralisation. Nonetheless, the increments were 50-fold below the limit set by EU and USA compost limits and the Malaysian Recommended Site Screening Levels for Contaminated Land (SSLs). Moreover, the vermicompost C:N ratio range is 20.65-22.93 and it can be an advantageous tool to revitalise insalubrious soil by acting as soil stabiliser or conditioner.
Vermicomposting is a process that involves biological, chemical and physical transformations of solid organic materials such as agricultural residues of plant and animal through the use of microorganisms and earthworms. There are three main classes of earthworms, and only those from one class are usually used for vermicomposting. However, mostly foreign earthworms are used in the setup. Foreign earthworms are more expensive and harder to obtain than local earthworms. This makes the local farmers reluctant to try since they are expensive. The difference in vermicompost using two species of epigeic earthworms, a local earthworm and a foreign earthworm (Eisenia fetida), and normal compost without any earthworms was measured in this study. Both species of earthworms were placed in identical vermibeds consisting of partially composted goat manure and partially composted spent coconut flakes (SCF) with the ratio of 5:1 respectively in terms of weight. The vermibed moisture content was maintained at 60 – 70% throughout the whole process. The end products showed a difference from one another. The E. fetida showed a better result compared to the local earthworms in terms of the nutrient content presence and the adaptability of the earthworms during the whole process. However, the end product from the local earthworms was still better compared to the normal compost without any earthworms.
Molecular and morphometric investigations were conducted on the actinosporean morphotypes of myxosporeans surveyed in oligochaetes of Lake Balaton and Kis-Balaton Water reservoir. Oligochaetes belonging to the species Isochaetides michaelseni Lastočkin and Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard as well as to the genera Nais Dujardin, Dero Müller and Aeolosoma Ehrenberg were studied during an 18-month period. Actinosporeans were obtained exclusively from I. michaelseni (7,818 specimens) with very low prevalence (0.01-0.06%). Four new actinosporean morphotypes of the collective groups raabeia (2 types), synactinomyxon (1 type) and neoactinomyxum (1 type) were found and described, including the first synactinomyxon collective group from Hungarian biotopes and a new raabeia morphotype. Except for Synactinomyxon type 1, the 18S rDNA analysis revealed that the spores did not match any myxospore entity found in the GenBank.
The cosmopolitan littoral earthworm Pontodrilus litoralis is distributed in tropical and sub-tropical coastal habitats, whereas P. longissimus is reported only in the Thai-Malay coastal line. In the present study, we examined the difference in salinity effect on the survival rate, wet weight (hereafter weight) change, behaviour, and osmolality of these two Pontodrilus species. A 28 d exposure to varying salinity concentration (0-50 ppt) revealed that P. litoralis is able to survive over a wide salinity range than P. longissimus, with the latter species exhibiting a low survival rate over the same salinity range. During short-term exposure (0-96 h) to a salinity of less than 30 ppt, P. litoralis exhibited weight gain and this was significant in the first 12 h of exposure. However, P. longissimus gained weight when exposed to salinity at under 10 ppt in the first 72 h of exposure. The two species of Pontodrilus behaved differently when exposed to different salinities. The coelomic fluid osmolarity of Pontodrilus was related to the exposure medium and was mostly maintained as hyperosmotic to the external medium over the range of salinities tested. This study shows how two different species of the littoral earthworm genus Pontodrilus respond to a change in salinity, which may explain their dispersal pattern and shape their distribution pattern throughout Southeast Asia.
Vermicomposting using Lumbricus rubellus was conducted in two different durations, 10 and 30 weeks in the same plots. Three different of treatments combination were prepared with eight replicates for each treatment namely cow dung : kitchen waste in 30:70 ratio (T1), cow dung : coffee grounds in 30:70 ratio (T2), and cow dung : kitchen waste : coffee grounds in 30:35:35 ratio (T3). Macronutrients elements in the vermicompost from each treatment were measured in the tenth and thirtieth week. Comparatively longer duration of vermicomposting by using Lumbricus rubellus enhanced the quality of vermicompost by the increase of the macronutrient elements while reducing the heavy metal concentration and C/N ratio.
Vermicomposting for 140 days by using Lumbricus rubellus was conducted after 21 days of natural pre-composting. Five treatments in different ratio of goat manure: spent mushroom substrate were prepared as feed materials with four replicates for each treatment namely; 20:80 (TA), 40:60 (TB), 50:50 (TC), 60:40 (TD) and 80:20 (TE). As for control, each treatment without earthworm was prepared. On the basis of nutrient elements, goat manure and spent mushroom substrate can be decomposed through both methods of vermicomposting and natural composting. Findings of this study indicated that the higher usage of goat manure with longer duration resulted in the production of improved organic fertilizer.
The optimization of protein content in earthworm-based fish feed formulation was investigated in the study. Full factorial design (FFD) and central composite design (CCD) were used as a statistical tool to screen the range of the selected parameters and to optimize the process, respectively. Three components were combined in the fish feed formulation
namely earthworm powder, chicken guts and soybean waste as the protein source. The optimum nutritional values were obtained at 25%, 25% and 5.95% for earthworm powder, soybean waste and chicken guts, respectively, to give an optimum protein content of 35.97%. Formulation of fish feed from earthworm powder can be an alternative in aquaculture industry in the near future.
A preliminary study was conducted to determine the presence and abundance of aquatic worms in Lake Chini ecosystem, Pahang (Gumum Sea). Samplings were conducted twice in 2000. Water quality analysis was conducted to determine the water quality of the lake at the sampling locations. Results showed that nutrient levels in the water body was low and values for other physical parameters such as temperature, pH and conductivity suggested that Gumum Sea in Lake Chini is free from pollution. According to Malaysian interim river classification (Department of Environment, Malaysia), Lake Chini falls within class I to III which indicates good water quality. Annelida was the most dominant phylum found in the study area, which comprise of two major families namely Naididae and Tubificidae. This phylum contributed about 59% of the total individuals sampled and the rests were Arthropoda and Plathyhelmintes. Naididae was the most dominat family and contributed over 98% of the toal population of aquatic worms present. Dero, Aulophorus, Pristina, Branchiodrilus and Ripistes were amongst the dominant genera and showed good adaptations to the pollution free ecosystem of Lake Chini.
Thelohanellus kitauei is a freshwater myxosporean parasite causing intestinal giant cystic disease of common carp. To clarify the life cycle of T. kitauei, we investigated the oligochaete populations in China and Hungary. This study confirms two distinct aurantiactinomyxon morphotypes (Aurantiactinomyxon type 1 and Aurantiactinomyxon type 2) from Branchiura sowerbyi as developmental stages of the life cycle of T. kitauei. The morphological characteristics and DNA sequences of these two types are described here. Based on 18S rDNA sequence analysis, Aurantiactinomyxon type 1 (2048 bp) and Aurantiactinomyxon type 2 (2031 bp) share 99.2-99.4 %, 99.8-100 % similarity to the published sequences of T. kitauei, respectively. The 18S rDNA sequences of these two aurantiactinomyxon morphotypes share 99.4 % similarity, suggesting intraspecific variation within the taxon, possibly due to geographic origin. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate the two aurantiactinomyxon types clustered with T. kitauei. Regardless, based on 18S rDNA synonymy, it is likely that Aurantiactinomyxon type 1 and 2 are conspecific with T. kitauei. This is the fourth elucidated two-host life cycle of Thelohanellus species and the first record of T. kitauei in Europe.
The development of parasites and pathogens resistant to synthetic drugs highlighted the needing of novel, eco-friendly and effective control approaches. Recently, metal nanoparticles have been proposed as highly effective tools towards cancer cells and Plasmodium parasites. In this study, we synthesized silver nanoparticles (EW-AgNP) using Eudrilus eugeniae earthworms as reducing and stabilizing agents. EW-AgNP showed plasmon resonance reduction in UV-vis spectrophotometry, the functional groups involved in the reduction were studied by FTIR spectroscopy, while particle size and shape was analyzed by FESEM. The effect of EW-AgNP on in vitro HepG2 cell proliferation was measured using MTT assays. Apoptosis assessed by flow cytometry showed diminished endurance of HepG2 cells and cytotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner. EW-AgNP were toxic to Anopheles stephensi larvae and pupae, LC(50) were 4.8 ppm (I), 5.8 ppm (II), 6.9 ppm (III), 8.5 ppm (IV), and 15.5 ppm (pupae). The antiplasmodial activity of EW-AgNP was evaluated against CQ-resistant (CQ-r) and CQ-sensitive (CQ-s) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. EW-AgNP IC(50) were 49.3 μg/ml (CQ-s) and 55.5 μg/ml (CQ-r), while chloroquine IC(50) were 81.5 μg/ml (CQ-s) and 86.5 μg/ml (CQ-r). EW-AgNP showed a valuable antibiotic potential against important pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Concerning non-target effects of EW-AgNP against mosquito natural enemies, the predation efficiency of the mosquitofish Gambusia affinis towards the II and II instar larvae of A. stephensi was 68.50% (II) and 47.00% (III), respectively. In EW-AgNP-contaminated environments, predation was boosted to 89.25% (II) and 70.75% (III), respectively. Overall, this research highlighted the EW-AgNP potential against hepatocellular carcinoma, Plasmodium parasites and mosquito vectors, with little detrimental effects on mosquito natural enemies.
In this phyto-pharmacological screening of Pistia stratiotes L leaf and root extracts each separately in two different solvents demonstrated its potential medicinal value. Apparent antioxidant value is demonstrated by DPPH, Nitric oxide scavenging and Ferric ion reducing method. Additionally, total flavonoid and phenolic compounds were measured. The leaf methanolic extract scavenged both nitric oxide (NO) and DPPH radical with a dose dependent manner. But the pet ether fraction of root was found to have highest efficacy in Fe(3±) reducing power assay. Flavonoid was found to contain highest in the pet ether fraction of root (411.35mg/g) in terms of quercetin equivalent, similarly highest amount (34.96mg/g) of total phenolic compounds (assayed as gallic acid equivalents) were found to contain in the same fraction. The methanolic fractions appeared less cytotoxic compared to pet ether extracts. The plant extracts caused a dose dependent decrease in faecal droppings in both castor oil and magnesium sulphate induced diarrhea, where as leaf extracts in each solvent appeared most effective. Also, the plant extracts showed anthelmintic activity in earthworm by inducing paralysis and death in a dose dependent manner. At highest doses (50 mg/ml) all fractions were almost effective as the positive control piperazine citrate (10 mg/ml). Thus, besides this cytotoxic effect it's traditional claim for therapeutic use can never be overlooked.
Vermicomposting is a process in which earthworms are used to convert organic materials into humus-like material known as vermicompost. A number of researchers throughout the world have found that the nutrient profile in vermicompost is generally higher than traditional compost. In fact, vermicompost can enhance soil fertility physically, chemically and biologically. Physically, vermicompost-treated soil has better aeration, porosity, bulk density and water retention. Chemical properties such as pH, electrical conductivity and organic matter content are also improved for better crop yield. Nevertheless, enhanced plant growth could not be satisfactorily explained by improvements in the nutrient content of the soil, which means that other plant growth-influencing materials are available in vermicomposts. Although vermicomposts have been shown to improve plant growth significantly, the application of vermicomposts at high concentrations could impede growth due to the high concentrations of soluble salts available in vermicomposts. Therefore, vermicomposts should be applied at moderate concentrations in order to obtain maximum plant yield. This review paper discusses in detail the effects of vermicompost on soil fertility physically, chemically and biologically. Future prospects and economy on the use of organic fertilizers in the agricultural sector are also examined.
Soybean (Glycine max L.) is one the most commonly consumed legumes worldwide, with 200 million metric tons produced per year. However, the inedible soy husk would usually be removed during the process and the continuous generation of soybean husk may represent a major disposal problem for soybean processing industries. Thus, the main aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility to convert soybean husk (S) amended with market-rejected papaya (P) into vermicompost using Eudrilus eugeniae.
There is an urgent need globally to find alternative sustainable steps to treat municipal solid wastes (MSW) originated from mismanagement of urban wastes with increasing disposal cost. Furthermore, a conglomeration of ever-increasing population and consumerist lifestyle is contributing towards the generation of more MSW. In this context, vermicomposting offers excellent potential to promote safe, hygienic and sustainable management of biodegradable MSW. It has been demonstrated that, through vermicomposting, MSW such as city garbage, household and kitchen wastes, vegetable wastes, paper wastes, human faeces and others could be sustainably transformed into organic fertiliser or vermicompost that provides great benefits to agricultural soil and plants. Generally, earthworms are sensitive to their environment and require temperature, moisture content, pH and sometimes ventilation at proper levels for the optimum vermicomposting process. Apart from setting the optimum operational conditions for the vermicomposting process, other approaches such as pre-composting, inoculating micro-organisms into MSW and redesigning the conventional vermireactor could be introduced to further enhance the vermicomposting of MSW. Thus the present mini-review discusses the potential of introducing vermicomposting in MSW management, the benefits of vermicomposted MSW to plants, suggestions on how to enhance the vermicomposting of MSW as well as risk management in the vermicomposting of MSW.
In this laboratory-scale study, earthworms were introduced as biodegraders of palm oil mill effluent (POME), which is a wastewater produced from the wet process of palm oil milling. POME was absorbed into amendments (soil or rice straw) in different ratios as feedstocks for the earthworm, Eudrilus eugeniae. The presence of earthworms led to significant increases in pH, electrical conductivity, and nutrient content but decreases in the C/N ratio (0.687-75.8%), soluble chemical oxygen demand (19.7-87.9%), and volatile solids (0.687-52.7%). However, earthworm growth was reduced in all treatments by the end of the treatment process. Rice straw was a better amendment/absorbent relative to soil, with a higher nutrient content and greater reduction in soluble chemical oxygen demand with a lower C/N ratio in the vermicompost. Among all treatments investigated, the treatment with 1 part rice straw and 3 parts POME (w/v) (RS1:3) produced the best quality vermicompost with high nutritional status.
Synthesis of a natural proline-rich cyclopolypeptide - rolloamide A was carried out by coupling of tri- and tetrapeptide units Boc-Phe-Pro-Val-OMe and Boc-Pro-Leu-Pro-Ile-OMe after proper deprotection at carboxyl and amino terminals using carbodiimide chemistry in alkaline environment followed by cyclization of linear heptapeptide segment in the presence of base. The structure of synthesized peptide was confirmed by spectral techniques including FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, MS analyses. Newly synthesized peptide was subjected to biological screening against pathogenic microbes and earthworms. Cyclopeptide 8 possessed promising activity against pathogenic fungi Candida albicans (ZOI: 24 mm, MIC: 6 μg/mL) and Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ZOI: 27 mm, MIC: 6 μg/mL) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (ZOI: 23 mm, MIC: 12.5 μg/mL), in comparison to reference drugs - griseofulvin (ZOI: 20 mm, MIC: 6 μg/mL) and ciprofloxacin (ZOI: 25 mm, MIC: 6 μg/mL/ZOI: 20 mm, MIC: 12.5 μg/mL). Also, newly synthesized heptacyclopeptide exhibited potent anthelmintic activity against earthworms Megascoplex konkanensis,Pontoscotex corethruses, and Eudrilus species (MPT/MDT ratio - 8.22-16.02/10.06-17.59 min), in comparison to standard drugs - mebendazole (MPT/MDT ratio - 10.52-18.02/12.57-19.49 min) and piperazine citrate (MPT/MDT ratio - 12.38-19.17/13.44-22.17 min).
The present study reports mathematical modelling of palm oil mill effluent and palm-pressed fiber mixtures (0% to 100%) during vermicomposting process. The effects of different mixtures with respect to pH, C:N ratio and earthworms have been optimized using the modelling parameters. The results of analysis of variance have established effect of different mixtures of palm oil mill effluent plus palm press fiber and time, under selected physicochemical responses (pH, C:N ratio and earthworm numbers). Among all mixtures, 60% mixture was achieved optimal growth at pH 7.1 using 16.29 C:N ratio in 15 days of vermicomposting. The relationship between responses, time and different palm oil mill waste mixtures have been summarized in terms of regression models. The obtained results of mathematical modeling suggest that these findings have potential to serve a platform for further studies in terms of kinetic behavior and degradation of the biowastes via vermicomposting.