GROWTH RATE AND FECUNDITY ASSESSMENT OF EUDRILUS EUGENIAE AND LAMPITO ARAURITIL IN PAPER MILL SLUDGES. Umamaheswari and V. BalamuruganAbstract The African night crawler earthworm, Eudrilus eugeniae and the indigenous worm, Larva° mauritii were cultured in the paper mill sludge and assessment of their growth and fecundity were carried out in the present study. No mortality was recorded in both the species of earthworms, but exhibited gain in weight on culturing in the industrial waste. Significant difference at one percent level was observed both in the weight of the earthworm species and the growth rate at different time periods. Cocoon production was found to increase continuously till 45111 day of the experiment in both the worm varieties. The hatching percentage and number of hatchlings per cocoon were found to be more in the Eudrilus eugeniae compared to Lam pito mauritii. Paper mill sludge did not exert any hampering effect on the reproductive rate of the cultured earthworms.
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