A Detailed Guide to the Correct Method of Raising Earthworms with Rabbit Manure
Many people may still not know much about earthworm farming. In fact, earthworm farming abroad has long been carried out on a large scale, but in China there is still a lack of understanding of earthworms, so earthworm farming in China is not yet very common and still has great room for development.
How to Raise Earthworms with Rabbit Manure
1. Rabbit manure must be fermented before it can be used. A comparison was made of raising earthworms with three types of rabbit manure: fresh rabbit manure, wet-fermented (watered during fermentation), and dry-fermented (no water sprinkled). The result was that all the earthworms stocked in fresh rabbit manure escaped, while fermented rabbit manure, whether wet-fermented or dry-fermented, could attract large numbers of earthworms to burrow into it.
2. Wet fermentation and dry fermentation of rabbit manure each have their own advantages. Dry-fermented rabbit manure does not easily lose its effectiveness and is convenient for storage over a longer period, but before raising earthworms it must be mixed with 70% water to moisten it and then stored for 6
days; wet-fermented rabbit manure can be used after 10 days of watering and fermentation, with a fast turnover. Therefore the manure pile takes up less space.
3. Fermented rabbit manure is not suitable for mixing with bed soil to raise earthworms. In the experiment, a wooden box about 50 cm long was taken and sawn in half; one half was filled entirely with rabbit manure, and the other half was filled with mixed rabbit manure (rabbit manure and bed soil mixed half and half). Then the two halves were joined at the sawn
point, and 10 earthworms were placed on each side. The test was carried out 4 times in total, each time for 1 to 3 days and nights, totaling 80 earthworm-instances, and the cumulative result was that there were 74 earthworms in the pure rabbit manure, while there were only 6 in the mixed rabbit manure.
4. Different sites can be used to pile and ferment rabbit manure to raise earthworms
5. The earthworm is an annelid with extremely strong reproductive capacity. During the 5 to 6 month test period, the maximum multiplication multiple reached 156.13, the minimum was 54.7, and the average was 90.73; the maximum weight-gain multiple was 98.72, the minimum was 27.80, and the average was 42.75. According to the records of the Japanese earthworm-raising expert Saito, earthworms multiply 10-fold in 4 months of farming and 100-fold in 8 months. By comparison, raising maggots X51 with fermented rabbit manure had an extremely good effect.
The earthworm is also an annelid with very strong adaptability. In this test, although the highest and lowest records of the multiplication multiple and weight-gain multiple differed greatly, this was mainly not caused by differences in the farming site, but was the result of whether the feed (fermented rabbit manure) was timely and sufficient and whether the humidity could be kept normal (for example, in open-air farming, whether there could be a shade shed in summer).
6. Raising earthworms with fermented rabbit manure can be adapted to local conditions.
The Market Prospects of Earthworm Farming
The rise of the earthworm farming industry has not only opened up a new source of animal protein feed for the development of livestock, poultry, and aquaculture industries, but has also found a new way for cities to purify the environment and handle public hazards; moreover, with in-depth research on the physiology of earthworms, it can also provide valuable raw materials for industries such as food and medicine. Therefore, the prospects for earthworm farming are broad.
Earthworms can be used to make medicine. At present, the international market price is 80,000 to 150,000 yuan per ton of dried earthworms, or even higher. According to analysis, the earthworm body contains various medicinal components such as lumbrokinase, lumbricus antipyretic factor, lumbricus toxin, xanthine, antihistamine, choline, cholesterol, nucleic acid derivatives, and B vitamins. At present, lumbrokinase can be scientifically extracted from the earthworm body for the treatment of cerebrovascular infarction and other diseases, and lumbrokinase oral or injection preparations have already been put on the market. Experiments have proved that earthworms can be fully used for clinical treatment.
The earthworm is a saprophytic invertebrate that feeds on organic waste. Numerous studies have proved that earthworms (powder) have high nutritional value and can be used as a high-quality protein feed for livestock, poultry, and aquaculture. Earthworms can also handle urban garbage waste, purify the environment, accumulate and make fertilizer, and so on, solving the difficult problem of garbage disposal in various urban districts. Using earthworms to raise pigs, chickens, ducks, Monopterus albus (ricefield eel), and Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (loach) not only makes them grow fast and gives good meat quality, but also costs less money.
The Living Environment of Earthworms
The earthworm is a poikilothermic animal, and its body temperature changes with changes in the external environmental temperature. Therefore, the earthworm's dependence on the environment is generally more pronounced than that of homeothermic animals. Environmental temperature not only affects the earthworm's body temperature and activity, but also affects the earthworm's metabolism, growth and development, and reproduction, and temperature also has a greater impact on other living conditions, thereby indirectly affecting the earthworm. Therefore, temperature is one of the most important living conditions for earthworms.
Generally speaking, the activity temperature of earthworms is within the range of 5—30°C; at 0—5°C they enter a dormant state; below 0°C they die; the most suitable temperature is about 20—27°C, at which they can grow, develop, and reproduce well. At 28—30°C, they can maintain a certain amount of growth; above 32°C growth stops; below 10°C their activity is sluggish; above 40°C they die; the optimum temperature for cocoon hatching is 18—27°C. It can be seen that the maximum lethal temperature of earthworms is lower than that of other invertebrates. The farming site is best indoors. In southern regions, ventilating and keeping moisture in summer and simply closing windows to keep warm in winter can allow normal production all year round (the temperature here refers to the temperature of the bedding material, because the air temperature and the bedding material temperature are not the same; for example, when the air temperature is 0°C, the bedding material temperature is about 12°C; when the air temperature is 38°C, the bedding material temperature is only about 28°C. This is because the manure material contains extremely high moisture).
The Benefits of Earthworms
The movement and excrement of earthworms are very beneficial for improving soil quality. They can keep the soil's air permeability good, keep the soil in a healthy state, and play an important role in agriculture. A healthy earthworm can turn over 20-40 tons of soil in one acre each year.
Earthworms can loosen the soil, increase soil organic matter and improve its structure, and can also promote acidic or alkaline soil to become neutral soil, increase quick-acting components such as phosphorus, and make the soil suitable for the growth of crops. Because earthworms are rich in protein, when used as feed for livestock, poultry, and aquaculture industries, they can all achieve the effect of increasing production. Earthworms also occupy a certain position in pharmacology and are a common traditional Chinese medicinal material, with effects such as reducing fever, relieving spasms, activating collaterals, relieving asthma, lowering blood pressure, and promoting urination.
The earthworm body can secrete a special enzyme that can decompose protein, fat, and wood fiber. Therefore, tree leaves, rice straw, livestock and poultry manure, household garbage, activated sludge, and scraps from the papermaking and food industries can all be its food. Earthworms can eliminate environmental pollution to a certain extent. Therefore, many countries have established earthworm farming factories, and they call earthworm farming factories “environmental purification devices.” Because earthworms can absorb trace metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium from the soil, the accumulated amount of these metal elements in the earthworm body is 10 times the external content. Therefore, some scientists believe that earthworms can be used as monitoring animals for heavy metal pollution in soil.
In fact, before raising earthworms, you should first understand the living environment of earthworms, and then understand the benefits and functions of earthworms. These are all very helpful for people raising earthworms for the first time. According to surveys, earthworms are currently widely used in pharmaceutical manufacturing, light chemical industry, and farming, and their uses are very extensive.