Requirements and chemical composition of organic vermicompost produced in Lithuania

Abstract

In the article the requirements established for the production of organic vermicompost in Lithuania are analyzed. It was found that in Lithuania organic biohumus is usually made from farmyard or horse manure with the help of earthworms Eisenia fetida or Dendrobaena veneta. Manure should be used only from small farms or farms with less than 300 livestock units. In order to obtain confirmation by the certification authority that the produced biohumus complies with EU regulations and national legislation a detailed chemical composition analysis by an accredited laboratory and scientific recommendation must be submitted. The certification authority shall verify whether all the materials contained in the vermicompost on the basis of Regulation (EC) No.889/2008 Annex I are allowed for use in organic production. If all the requirements are met the certification authority shall issue a permit to use the produced vermicompost in organic production. Examination of the chemical composition of organic vermicompost showed that it contained 43.65% of dry and 49.43% of organic matter, 24.26% of organic carbon, 4.78% of humic and 0.42% of fulvic acid, 1.67% of total nitrogen (N), 0.46% of total phosphorus (P), 1.49% of total potassium (K), 4.51% of calcium (Ca), 0.74% of magnesium (Mg), 0.56% of iron (Fe), 22.88 mg kg-1 of boron (B), 216.88 mg kg-1 of manganese (Mn), 3.23 mg kg-1 of cobalt (Co), 146.87 mg kg-1 of zinc (Zn), 1.74 mg kg-1 of molybdenum (Mo), and 20.13 mg kg-1 of copper (Cu), pH value was 7.6. Organic biohumus has been contaminated by heavy metals, the amount of cadmium (Cd) comprised 0.35 mg kg-1, Nickel (Ni) - 6.92 mg kg-1, lead (Pb) - 11.59 mg kg-1, chromium (Cr) - 7.11 mg kg-1, and Cr (VI) residues were not found.