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6. THE ROLE OF VERMICOMPOST IN PEST AND DISEASE

Vermicompost is known to be useful in the treatment of different plant diseases (Table 4). Many

plant diseases caused by soil-borne, foliar plant pathogens and pests have been suppressed by

vermicompost products, which have proven effective as organic fertiliser and biological control
agents. The excessive and repeated use of chemical pesticides in conventional agriculture has

resulted in "biological resistance" to crop diseases and pests. As a result, significantly higher
doses are now needed to inhibit the growth of high-yielding crops that are more susceptible to

pests and diseases [44]. The use of vermicompost has been shown to suppress disease-causing
factors in many crops, such as chickpeas and tomatoes. It has been proven by numerous studies

that the use of vermicompost as a substitute for chemicals yields successful results in the fight

against plant diseases.

Earthworm has stimulatory effect on soil microbial activities thus it suppressed the plant

diseases more potentially than aerobic compost. There is a lot of research on the suppression
effect of organic matter amendments in soils, with gratifying levels of reduction in plant

parasitic nematode infestations. There are few publications on the suppressing effect of solid

vermicomposts on numbers and outbreaks of plant parasitic nematodes relative to OM and
thermophilic compost additives. Solid vermicompost applications for control of plant parasitic

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nematode populations have been studied. Solid vermicomposts ranging from 2 to 8 kg.ha were
applied to tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and grapes in field treatments. They were able to

suppress plant parasitic nematodes with great success. These researchers investigated the

suppression capacity of plant parasitic nematodes in vermicomposts made from paper waste,
food waste, and cattle manure under field circumstances and found considerable suppression

[45].

Apart from using compost or biocontrol agents individually, the fortification of compost with

bio-control agents has been suggested to increase the colonization process of biological agents
in composts. Numerous composts and biofortified composts have been reported to decrease the

number of pathogens and defend crops against soil borne pathogenic agents when applied as

soil amendments [46, 47]. Antagonistic effect of vermicompost and vermicompost fortified
with Trichoderma harzianum, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens was investigated

against Fusarium oxysporum and it was shown that biofortification not only facilitated plant

growth but also significantly reduced wilt disease. As these microbial strains have the potential
to secrete antifungal metabolites, hydrolytic enzymes, and antibodies. A scientific study on the

management of tomato Fusarium wilt with biofortified vermicompost revealed that

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