• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.19 no.5
• /
• pp.35-44
• /
• 2014

In this study, the bio-phytoremediation and phytoremediation technologies were applied to the soils contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and heavy metals to evaluate the remediation efficacy from May 2012 to December 2013. Poplar (Populus bonatii Levl.) and Sun Hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) were selected and planted in phytoremediation practice. These plants were also utilized in the bio-phytoremediation practice, with the addition of earthworm (Eisenia fetida) and petroleum-degrading bacteria (Pseudomonos sp. NKNU01). Furthermore, physiological characteristics, such as photosynthesis rate and maximal photochemical yield, of all testing plants were also measured in order to assess their health conditions and tolerance levels in adverse environment. After 20 months of remedial practice, the results showed that bio-phytoremediation practice had a higher rate of TPH removal efficacy at 30-60 cm depth soil than that of phytoremediation. However, inconsistent results were discovered while analyzing the soil at 100 cm depth. The study also showed that the removal efficiency of heavy metals was lower than that of TPH after remediation treatment. The results from test field tissue sample analysis revealed that more Zinc than Chromium was absorbed and accumulated by the tested plants. Plant height measurements of Poplar and Sun Hemp showed that there were insignificant differences of growth between the plants in remediation plots and those in the control plot. Physiological data of Poplar also suggested it has higher tolerance level toward the contaminated soils. These results indicated that the two testing plants were healthy and suitable for this remediation study.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.72-86
• /
• 2014

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of mulching of easily-decomposable organic materials including rice powder and corn starch on rice paddy fields. The treatments were including seven mulching materials each consisted of rice powder [Rice], starch with black color [Starch-B] and transparent [Starch-T] and stone powder [Stone], and conventional vinyl [Conventional], no-mulching without herbicide [Control-O] and no-mulching with herbicide [Control-C]. Rice growth and yield were different among the treatments; the highest yields were observed for [Rice] ($6.51ton\;ha^{-1}$) and [Conventional] ($6.47ton\;ha^{-1}$) followed by [Starch-T] ($6.25ton\;ha^{-1}$) and [Stone] ($6.20ton\;ha^{-1}$) which is comparable to the [Control-C] ($6.15ton\;ha^{-1}$). However, [Starch-B] showed lower rice yield ($4.93ton\;ha^{-1}$) than the [Conventional] or [Control-C]. Mean soil temperature ranged form 23.6 to $24.1^{\circ}C$ with the highest temperature for [Rice] treatment, and cumulative soil temperature was also significantly higher in the [Rice] treatment. Among the soil parameters, electrical conductivity, organic matter content, and phosphorus concentration were also different among the treatments. The amount of earthworm casting was higher for [Rice] treatment ($17.7kg\;m^{-2}$) compared to the others ($5.5{\sim}9.8kg\;m^{-2}$). It was suggested that mulching of rice fields with organic materials containing rice powder is better than others in respected to rice yield and earthworm activity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.91-97
• /
• 2015

BACKGROUND: Earthworms are essential detritus feeders that play a vital role in the process of decomposition of organic matter and soil metabolism. The complex process of partial breakdown of organic matter and mixing with mucous and gut microbial flora in the form of earthworm cast results in the reduction of the toxicity. This study focused on the change of cast amount and pollutant contents before and after the eating of the organic waste and upland soil with the two species of earthworm. METHODS AND RESULTS: The two species of earthworms were compared to the cast production. In the upland soil material, the daily amount of worm's cast was 1.42 g in E. andrei and 0.40 g in A. agrestis. In the organic waste material, the cast of E. andrei was 0.78~0.83 g and the cast of A. agrestis. have not been collected because all earthworms died after the treatment. The heavy metals treated in the upland soil were evaluated the impact of the worm excretion. With the E. andrei, the cast production was decreased 0.1~0.8 times in zinc, 0.2~0.5 times in copper, and 0.1~0.7 times in cadmium compared to the control treatment according to the levels of concentration. With A. agrestis, the cast amount was decreased 0.3~1.1 times in zinc, 0.2~0.3 times in copper, and 0.1~2.1 times in cadmium, respectively. The changes of pollutant contents before and after the eating of the organic wastes with E. andrei were studied. In the treatment of the Alcohol Fermentation Processing Sludge and the Fruit Juice Processing Sludge, heavy metal content of the cast was increased 0.7~53.3% compared to the sludge materials. PAHs contents were decreased 50.1% in the cast of the Alcohol Fermentation Processing Sludge and 36.6% in the cast of the Fruit Juice Processing Sludge, respectively. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, although the A. agrestis was bigger than E. andrei in size and weight, the cast amount of A. agrestis was small. The two species of earthworm was less excretion with high concentration of heavy metals. While the heavy metals such as zinc, copper, and cadmium were considerably accumulated in the cast, the total compounds, PAHs were fairly decomposed. There results would provide us for restoring contaminated soil and cleaning organic wastes.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.75-85
• /
• 2012

This study was investigated to develop an alternative medium for the cultivation of oyster mushrooms. The cultivation characteristics for major cultivated varieties of oyster mushrooms were campared with the food waste medium. In addition, water control & a gap formation of food waste is being pointed out as a problem of the medium material. Therefore, certain amounts of earthworm casting were supplied to the food waste medium to overcome the water and compaction phenomenon. This study investigated the use of the total 6 cultivars of oyster mushrooms, the Suhan(PL.1), Chiak No. 5(PL.2), Chiak No. 7(PL.3), Samgu No. 5(PL.4), Samgu No. 8(PL.5), Jangan No. 5(PL.6). In terms of medium, the optimum growth of the mycelium of the oyster mushroom was observed in the beet pulp medium but in food waste, the mycelium's growth was observed as insufficient in the bulk of cultivars. The Jangan No. 5(PL.6) was superior to other cultivars relative to the mycelium's growth. The optimum concentration of earthworm casting added the foodwaste medium was 30%. When Jangan No. 5(PL.6) was incubated in the foodwaste meidum containing 30% earthworm casting, the early days to germination were long, almost double the amount of time than that of the beet pulp medium. However, it was found that the fruit body size was larger than that of the beet pulp by up to 20.5%, and the length of the fruit body was up to 6.2% longer than that of the beet plup. The total yields increased by 60.5%. The analysis results of the oyster mushroom's nutritional contents cultured using the food waste medium, shows that the protein, vitamin A and vitamin E increased 70.6%, 2.4%, 0.8% respectively, the fat decreased by 12.6% and the oleic acid increased in a very small amount compared to that of the beet pulp medium.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.277-284
• /
• 2014

Biochar application to soil is widely known to have effects of climate change mitigation and soil quality improvement. However, effects of biochar on soil ecosystem are not always positive and some biochars are reported to contain toxic materials which might influence soil ecosystem. In this context, this study aims to investigate behavioral changes of earthworms(Eisenia fetida, Eisenia andrei) in response to different application rates of biochar to artificial soil. Treatment included two types of biochars made from rice husk (RH_Char) and wastewater sludge (SL_Char) with 1% and 10% application rates, respectively. Avoidance test revealed that earthworms did not avoid SL_Char treatments at 1% and 10%, while they rather moved to the RH_Char treatments probably due to higher labile carbon content(Hot water extractable carbon) of the RH_Char. The HWC content of RH_Char was 4 times higher than that of the SL_Char. Results of reproduction test showed that the survival rates, number of juveniles and number of cocoons were not influenced by biochar application except for the treatment of SL_Char at 10% rate. In the SL_Char 10% treatment, fatality was approximately 3.3 times as high as the control and the number of cocoons was 1.3 times higher in the same treatment than the control, indicating that earthworms were under environmental stress. The possible explanation for the stress condition was related to higher Cd, Ni, Cr, and As contents in the SL_Char. Overall results imply that biochar application at low rate might not change earthworms' behavior for the short term, while the reproduction behavior might be negatively influenced under the high application rate.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
• /
• v.1998 no.11
• /
• pp.227-228
• /
• 1998

Lumbrokinase, potent fibrinolytic enzyme purified from earthworm, was immobilized onto polyurethane valves using photoreaction, photoreactive polyallyl-amino as a photoreactive linker. For evaluation of blood compatibility, lumbrokinase immobilized polymer valves were assembled into the total artificial heart (TAH). This TAH was implanted to 60kg healthy lamb for 1-3 days with the cardiac output 5 L/min. In the control lamb, the valves were untreated, in ore other, only valves on the right were treated, and in the remaining animal, only those on the left. To facilitate the thrombus formation, low doses of heparin were administered. For evaluation of the immobilized lumbrokinase, thrombus formation, proteolytic and fibrinolytic activity was measured. This data shows that lumbrokinase-treated polyurethane valves lead to decreased thrombus formation in vivo, and that their biocompatibility is therefore higher than that of untreated valves.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.71-78
• /
• 2005

This study was performed to obtain the basic data on current situations and challengeable aspects of vermicomposting industries in Korea and to develope foodwaste treatment technology using earthworm. Pre-treatment process of food waste consists of cleaning, grinding, mixing and others, and salinity of food waste was 0.7% on average, thus not suitable for feed of worms. When applying wash water and going through the cleaning process, however, salinity was dropped to 0.38%, indicating that cleaning process applying wash water is necessary to control the proper salinity for growth of worms. In the food waste processing experiment applying worms, it has been presented that smaller particles induce higher processing efficiency. As a result, food waste processing by worms is possible through maintaining the suitable environment for survival of worms from input process to generation of cast. Cast generated after processing food waste was proved to be most suitable for product standard of compost thus cast is presented to be recycled after processing the food waste applying the worms.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.39-45
• /
• 1997

This study was performed to investigate the growth response of earthworm (Eisenia foetida) in cow manure added Cadmium (Cd) and therefore, to estimate the toxic threshold level of Cadmium and the levels of Cadmium in cow manure for obtain-ing the maximum Cadmium-concentration enable to accumulate in earthworm tis-sue. Seven different concentrations of Cadmium added in cow manure were 0 (control), 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 mg/kg, respectively. Survival rate (SR), mean fresh weight of adult worm at final time ($FW_2$), increasing rate (IR), number of cocoon (NC), number of young worm (NY) and residual matter (RW) were not significantly different among Cadmium concentrations in cow manure. Of the measured growth-characteristics, survival rate (SR) had a significantly positive correlation (p<0.001) with number of cocoon (NC). But mean fresh weight of adult worm at final time ($FW_2$) had a significantly negative correlation (p<0.05) with residual matter of cow manure. The maximum Cadmium concentration accumulated in tissue was ranged from 283.8 mg/kg to 396.2 mg/kg. It was obtained at the level of 956.5 mg/kg and 1116.6 mg/kg in cow manure added Cadmium, respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.76-83
• /
• 2006

In order to investigate the impacts of non-selective herbicide, glufosinate-ammonium (ammonium 4-[hydroxy(methyl)phosphinoyl] -DL-homoalaninate, GLA) to the non-target organisms, earthworm was exposed to GLA in the field soil for a month, and microbial populations in the soil were investigated after application of GLA. Simultaneously, the residues of GLA and its metabolite, 3-MPP were analyzed in the same soil. Meanwhile, to elucidate the influence of GLA to the growth of non-target crops incase of inter-furrow application, the amounts of carotenoid, chlorophyll, amino acid, proteins and sugars in the leaves of potato and chinese cabbage grown in the same field were investigated. In result, the dead earthworm was not observed during the test period, and the increasing rates of bodyweight were $9.410{\sim}11.603%$ in GLA-treated plots and 5.645% in GLA-untreated plots. The populations of fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes in the GLA-treated soils were $6.2{\times}10^4$, $1.5{\times}10^6$ and $5.7{\times}10^4$, respectively. They maintained relatively similar levels to the control which were $3.7{\times}10^4$, $3.7{\times}10^5$ and $3.7{\times}10^4$, respectively. In residue analysis, the limit of detection of GLA was 0.02 mg $kg^{-1}$, that of 3-MPP was the same level, and the half-life of GLA was 15 days in sandy clay loam soil. This result indicates that GLA was degraded very quickly in field soil. On the other hand, the amounts of physiological, biochemical components such as carotenoid, amino acid, chlorophyll, protein and sugar were ranged from 90.0 to 104.3% in potato and from 99.0 to 112.7% in chinese cabbage. Comparing with hand-weeded plots, it is indicated that GLA had not affected to the growth of non-target crops when applied at inter-furrow in crops-growing field.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.298-310
• /
• 2007

This study compared the correlation between the accumulated copper content in earthworms and the copper concentration rate of soil measured using several methods to extract heavy metals from soil. For the experiment, a microcosm soil test was carried out using copper contaminated soil from the vicinity of copper-roofed buildings and earthworms (Eisenia fetida). Soils from the study area were used to produce 6 treatments; control, 1C (contamination level with the lowest treated copper concentration rate), 2C, 4C, 8C, and 16C (contamination level with the highest treated copper concentration rate). Microcosm soil test using the 6 treatments proved that as the copper content in soil and the experiment time increased, the growth rate of and the accumulated copper concentration rate in earthworms increased as well. The degree of the increase corresponded to the order of the treated copper concentration levels in microcosm soils. Standard method of the ministry of environment and EPA method 3051 were used to obtain the copper concentration in soil and the total copper content in soil, respectively. The correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9875~0.9993 between the copper content extracted by the standard method and the total copper content shows high positive correlation. The correlation coefficient of the copper content in soil extracted by the standard method and the accumulated copper content in earthworms, and the correlation coefficient of the total copper content in soil and the accumulated copper content in earthworms were ranged from 0.9193 to 0.9728 and from 0.9282 to 0.9844, respectively, showing highly significant positive correlation. Due to the high correlation between the copper concentration in soil and the accumulated copper content in earthworms, it is concluded that earthworms are suitable to be used as biological indicator species or for bio-monitoring against copper contamination of soil.