Abstract
Accumulation of solid waste has intensified with the increase in world population and industrialization. Most importantly, wastes of animal origin such as animal manures and tannery wastes are a major under-utilized resource in most countries with potential for utilization in crop production. This study evaluated the potential of solid state hydrolyzed tannery animal fleshing (SSF-ANFL) and submerged state hydrolyzed tannery ANFL (SmF-ANFL) vermicompost and compost amended soils on the growth, yield and chemical characteristics of tomatoes. It was interesting to observe that of most measured parameters, the SSF amended treatments resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) the highest measurements compared to the SmF amended treatments. On average, the SSF vermicompost resulted in a 10%, 8.9% and 14% higher plant height, stem girth and leaf numbers, respectively, compared to other treatments combined. It was also noteworthy that, for the same parameters, the SSF-ANFL based treatments resulted in a 7.7%, 10.1% and 7.4% higher plant height, stem girth and leaf numbers, respectively, relative to the SmF-ANFL based treatments. The study demonstrates the potential of animal fleshing based vermicomposts as nutrient sources in crop production.