Worm Care: Raising earthworms from livestock and poultry manure and agricultural waste

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

MODULE COURSE

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WORM CARE

CODE: MD 04

OCCUPATION: RAISING EARTHWORMS FROM LIVESTOCK, POULTRY MANURE AND AGRICULTURAL WASTE

Level: Elementary

Hanoi, 2017

PREFACE

Livestock pollution is currently a pressing issue in many rural areas of Vietnam. In many localities, water sources around residential areas with livestock farms are seriously polluted, affecting people's health and living environment.

Many technologies for treating livestock waste pollution have been and are being applied such as biogas technology, composting, worm farming, etc. Because each technology has its own advantages and limitations, it requires application in suitable conditions and sometimes a combination of different technologies is needed to apply to a livestock farm to comprehensively and thoroughly treat all types of pollution in the livestock environment.

One of the main objectives of the Low Carbon Agriculture Support Project (LCASP) is to provide technical support to farm owners and livestock households to sustainably treat the livestock environment by using livestock waste as a source of raw materials to create valuable products, both helping to increase people's income and reducing environmental pollution.

Currently, some farms and households have applied technologies to use livestock and poultry manure and agricultural waste to raise earthworms, etc. However, due to the lack of detailed instructions and people have not been trained to do this, the efficiency is not high. Based on the fact that there have been no vocational training documents in this field, the LCASP Project has coordinated with the Department of Cooperative Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to compile a set of primary vocational training textbooks "Raising earthworms from livestock and poultry manure and agricultural waste" to help households gain more knowledge and skills to effectively handle the livestock environment through income-generating activities from applying earthworm farming technology from livestock waste.

The coursebook is built with modules, theoretical lectures and practical exercises that are closely related to each other. The information in this coursebook is valuable in guiding teachers in designing, organizing teaching and applying it appropriately to the actual conditions and contexts of each region in the teaching process.

Although we have tried our best to compile the textbook, it is inevitable that there will be shortcomings. We look forward to receiving comments from experts and readers so that the textbook can be adjusted and supplemented to become more and more complete.

To complete this textbook, we received help from scientists, agricultural technical officers, members of the acceptance council, officers and experts from the Low Carbon Agriculture Support Project, Southern College of Electrical Engineering and Agriculture, Department of Economic Cooperation, ... who participated in contributing professional opinions and creating the best conditions to complete the program development and compilation of this textbook.

Hanoi, June 2017

Dr. Nguyen The Hinh, LCASP Project Director

This document is a textbook, so the information sources may be used in its original form or excerpted for educational and reference purposes. Any other purposes that are deviant or used for unfair business purposes are strictly prohibited.

DOCUMENT CODE: MD 04

INTRODUCTION

The module “Worm Care” is compiled according to the program of the profession of raising earthworms from livestock, poultry manure and agricultural waste at the elementary level. After completing this module, learners will be able to understand the eating habits, growth, development and the influence of environmental factors on the substrate on worms. Perform skills in the work: feeding worms, watering, checking and treating the worm raising environment; preventing pests and diseases; multiplying and spreading worms.

The content of the course includes 6 lessons, the teaching and learning duration is 88 hours, of which theory is 12 hours, practice is 72 hours, the end-of-module test is 4 hours; including the following lessons:

Lesson 1. Feeding worms Lesson 2. Watering

Lesson 3. Checking the worm farming environment Lesson 4. Preventing pests for worms

Lesson 5. Prevention and treatment of earthworm diseases Lesson 6. Earthworm breeding and reproduction

During the course, students are provided with the necessary knowledge to perform the work, discuss in class in groups, do exercises combined with practicing vocational skills at the breeding facility and visit effective vermicompost farming models.

Students' learning outcomes are assessed through knowledge and practice tests. Students must have a positive learning attitude and participate fully in the module duration.

The information in this textbook is valuable in guiding teachers in designing, organizing teaching and applying it appropriately to the actual conditions and context of each region in the teaching and learning process.

To complete this textbook, we received help from scientists, agricultural technical officers, earthworm farmers, and members of the acceptance council who contributed ideas to help us build the program and compile the textbook.

Although we have tried our best to compile the textbook, there are certainly some mistakes. We look forward to receiving comments from experts and readers so that the textbook can be adjusted and supplemented to become more and more complete.

Participated in editing:

1. Editor-in-chief: Duong Minh Hien

2. Nguyen Thi Chuc

3. Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh

4. Huynh Hanh Ngon

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We, the authors, would like to sincerely thank the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Management Board of the Low Carbon Agriculture Support Project, scientists, biogas equipment manufacturing and trading establishments, households in the Low Carbon Agriculture Support Project area and colleagues for creating favorable conditions to help us in the process of compiling this document.

In the process of compiling the textbook, although we have tried our best, it is inevitable that there will be shortcomings. We look forward to receiving comments from colleagues, experts, scientists and readers so that the textbook can continue to be edited and perfected in the next edition.

Thanks a lot!

On behalf of the author group Duong Minh Hien

INDEX

PAGE TITLE

INTRODUCTION 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS 5

TECHNICAL TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS 8

Lesson 1: FEEDING WORMS 9

A. Content 9

1. Determine feeding time 9

1.1. Feeding time after stocking 9

1.2. Time to feed worms periodically 10

2. Calculate the amount of food for worms 11

3. Food preparation 12

3.1. Food testing 12

3.2. Put food in the container 12

4. Dilute food 13

5. Move food into cage 14

6. Turning the worm biomass 15

7. Put food in worm cell 17

7.1. Choosing a feeding method 17

7.2. Prepare tools 18

8. Watering after feeding 19

B. Questions and practice exercises 22

C. Remember 25

Lesson 2: WATERING WORMS 26

A. Contents 26

1. Check the humidity of the worm substrate 26

2. Determine the watering time 27

3. Choose irrigation method 27

4. Prepare watering tools 28

5. Watering 29

5.1. Prepare irrigation water 29

5.2. Watering 29

6. Check after watering 31

C. Remember 33

Lesson 3: CHECKING THE BREEDING ENVIRONMENT 34

A. Content 34

1. Determine the time of inspection 34

2. Check biomass temperature 34

3. Check biomass moisture 35

4. Check the pH of the biomass 35

5. Check the light 36

6. Abnormal handling 36

6.1. Temperature 36

6.2. Humidity 36

6.3. pH 36

6.4. Light 37

B. Questions and practice exercises 37

C. Remember 39

Lesson 4: PEST CONTROL 40

A. Content 40

1. Check for abnormal activity of worms 40

2. Observing the enemies of earthworms 41

3. Identify the type of worm pests 41

3.1. Amphibians 41

3.2 Poultry, mice and birds of the air 42

3.3. Ant 43

4. Choose a method to treat worms 43

4.1. Manual method 43

4.2. Chemical method 44

4.3. Biological methods 44

5. Worm pest control 44

5.1. Manual pest control 44

5.2. Pest control using chemicals 44

5.3. Biological pest control 46

- Lime: sprinkle lime around the worm bed to repel ants and insects (Figure 4.4.11).

.......................................................................................................................... 46 6. Check after pest control ........................................................................ 47

B. Questions and practice exercises 48

C. Remember 51

Lesson 5: DISEASE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT FOR WORMS 52

A. Content 52

1. Observe unusual activity of worms 52

2. Observe the signs of disease of worms 52

3. Identifying the disease of worms 52

3.1. Symptoms of the disease 52

3.2. Cause 53

4. Choose prevention method 53

5. Treatment of worm diseases 54

5.1. Bloating 54