An earthworm cultivation and soil inoculation technique for land restoration
Kevin R. Butt *, James Frederickson, Richard M. Morris
Biosystems Research Group, Centre for Technology Strategy, The Open University,
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
An 8-fold increase in A. longa numbers was recorded over 12 weeks. This compares with a doubling over a similar time period from field-equivalent data for the same species (Evans and Guild, 1948). Reproduction rates during the EIU trial exceeded those found during controlled, pot-scale laboratory experiments for this species (Butt, 1993) whilst cocoon hatchability figures were similar.