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Orchard Biomass Management

Orchard Biomass Management

Mohamed Saad Aly Emam (Agricultural Research Center, Egypt) and Mohamed Abul-soud Mohamed (Agricultural Research Center, Egypt)
Copyright: © 2022 |Pages: 18
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-2423-0.ch002
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Abstract

The use of different techniques for recycling the orchard's biomass provided more flexibility and efficiency under the different environmental and production conditions. Aerobic composting depending on the decomposition activities of different micro-organisms and the environmental conditions (moisture, temperature, additives, machinery, etc.) was for a long time the main method for recycling the orchard's biomass. Vermicomposting introduced a promising technique for recycling the orchard's biomass depending on vermicomposting earthworm types, which led to not just recycling the orchards biomass but also producing different products (vermicompost, vermi-liquid, and earthworm biomass, feeders, etc.). Anaerobic composting mainly produces energy, as well as composting, and still needs more knowledge transfer. The management of organic soil content is a vital agricultural operation that takes into more consideration increasing the sustainability and the production of orchards as well as sequestrating the carbon dioxide in orchards' soils.
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Earthworm Species

Earthworm species vary in how they get food, and thus inhabit different parts of the soil, and have somewhat different effects on the soil environment. They fall into three distinct ecological groups based on feeding and burrowing habits.

  • 1 - Epigeic (litter dwelling) earthworms live and feed in surface litter. They move horizontally through leaf litter or compost with little ingestion of or burrowing into the soil. These worms are characteristically small and are not found in low organic matter soils. Lumbricus rubellus is an example of epigeic species. Epigeic forms of earthworms can hasten the composting process to a significant extent (Senapathi, 1988; Kale et al., 1982; Tomati et al., 1983), with production of better quality of composts, compared with those prepared through traditional methods (Tripathi and Bhardwaj, 2004).

  • 2 - Endogeic (shallow dwelling) earthworms are active in mineral topsoil layers and associated organic matter. They create a three-dimensional maze of burrows while consuming large quantities of soil. The genuses Diplocardia and Aporrectodea have endogeic life habits.

  • 3 - Anecic (deep burrowing) earthworms live in permanent, nearly vertical burrows that may extend several feet into the soil. They feed on surface residues and pull them into their burrows. Lumbricus terrestris is an example of an anecic species (Coleman and Crossley, 1996).

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