Paper Title
Influence of Substrate Size on Vermicomposting of Pre-Processed Mixed Vegetable Waste

Abstract
In the view of upcoming perception about vermicomposting technology in recycling various types of organic wastes, the influence of substrate size on vermicomposting was studied. Initially, the substrate sizes like 6.30, 4.75, 2.36, 1.75 and less than 1.75 mm were filled in respective vermibins (T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5) for vermiconversion of mixed vegetable waste amended with cow dung in the ratio of (1:1). On the other hand, conventional (CV) and control bin (C) were maintained parallelly for better comparison. The results showed that, final biomass growth and vermicast recovery were higher at vermibin that contains substrate size less than 1.75 mm (T5). Earthworm growth and vermicast recovery was directly related to substrate size of the waste mixtures. Results also revealed that lower substrate size which is less than 1.75 mm enhance maximum biomass growth and quicker bioconversion of waste mixtures in vermicomposting of vegetable waste. Keywords - Vermicomposting, Substrate size, Biomass growth, Vermicast recovery, Bioconversion.