Vol. 8, Issue 5, Part G (2023)

The present study was carried out in the Division of Livestock Production and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (SKUAST-Kashmir) to analyze the odour and fly score changes due to vermicomposting of cattle dung, sheep manure and poultry litter under the agro climatic conditions of Kashmir Valley. Four groups were formulated for carrying out the vermin-composting process and assessing the fly and odour changes were: Group G1: Cattle dung (Control), Group G2: Cattle dung + Sheep manure, Group G3: Cattle dung + Poultry litter, Group G4: Cattle dung + Sheep manure + Poultry litter. Different waste ingredients were added in equal proportions in each group. Every group was provided with four replicates (sub groups). The duration of the trail was 5 months. The odour and fly score analysis was carried out after every 15 days interval. An eight-point hedonic scale format was provided for this work with a committee of 5 members. Score 1 was assigned with extremely undesirable and 7 with extremely desirable remarks in both the cases. The odour score of the vermicomposting process varied significantly (p<0.05) between 4.6±0.24 (at 15^th day of vermin-composting) and 7.8±0.20 (150^th day of vermicomposting). Similarly, the fly scorecard varied between 4.9±0.37 (15th day of vermicomposting) and 7.9±0.24 (150^th of vermicomposting). It was concluded that odour and fly scores were improved significantly (p<0.05) as the vermicomposting process proceeded with the maturation and stabilization of the process.