IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2022) 13-2

Research article
erd

Effects of Vermicompost and Mineral Water on the GrowthParameters of the KDML 105 Rice Cultivar
DUANGNAPA SAIYAKIT
Department of Soil Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kean University,
Khon Kean, Thailand

CHULEEMAS BOONTHAI IWAI*
Department of Soil Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kean University,
Khon Kean, Thailand
Email: chuleemas1@gmail.com
Received 21 February 2022

Accepted 20 June 2022(*Corresponding Author)

Abstract The purpose of this research aimed to study the effects of vermicompost andmineral water from a wellspring in Ban Haubueng Community Forest, Nampong District,Khon Kaen Province, Thailand on the growth parameters of rice cultivar KDML 105. The
rice growth experiments were conducted in a completely randomized design, with four
irrigation treatments: irrigation water (T0), irrigation water with vermicompost (T1),mineral water (T2), and mineral water with vermicompost (T3) under greenhouseconditions. The results found that the application of the vermicompost with mineral water
gave the highest rice growth parameters; such as plant height, panicles, grains per panicle,
and number of tillers per hill, with a significant difference of p ≤ 0.05. The highest plantheight (139.63 cm.) was found in the T1 treatment, and the highest number of tillers per hilland grain weight were found in the T3 treatment at 7.00 and 175.28 grams per plot,
respectively; as vermicompost is a rich source of readily available nutrients and contains
growth hormones. Although the application of mineral water produced lower plant heights
than that of the irrigation water, the tillered rice demonstrated an increased number of tillers
per hill and grains per panicle. The results of this experiment revealed that the addition ofvermicompost and mineral water had significant positive effects on plant growth parametersof rice. It can conclude that the utilization of mineral water from the wellspring community
forest with vermicompost could help farmers to increase rice production.
Keywords vermicompost, mineral water, rice production

INTRODUCTION
Rice is the main staple food in Asia (Ruan et al., 2021), including Thailand, which represents oneof the world’s largest consumers and top rice exporters (TREA, 2022). The growth of rice depends
on the practice of nutrient management in cropping systems (Naivikul, 2007). Chemical fertilizers
are applied for rice growth and yield, but in the long term, may damage soil property and increase
investment costs. We hypothesized that the application of vermicompost could help improve thisissue. Vermicompost is an organic fertilizer, rich in nutrients, used to improve soil. Vermicomposts
can significantly influence the growth and productivity of plants (Kale et al., 1992; Kalembasa,1996; Sinha et al., 2002) due to their micro and macro elements, vitamins, enzymes, and hormones(Makulec, 2002). There are contain nutrients such as nitrates, exchangeable phosphorus, soluble
potassium, calcium, and magnesium in plant available forms (Orozco et al., 1996; Edwards, 1998).
All of its nutrients are in a readily available form, thereby enhancing their uptake by plants and, inturn, crop yield (Bejbaruha et al., 2013). Several studies have determined that enhancing Nutrient
nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) uptake increased rice yields through the application ofvermicompost (Srivastava et al., 2014; Bejbaruah et al., 2013). Vermicompost production is notcomplicated and requires a low investment (Iwai et al., 2011). In this study, we also appliedⒸ ISERD

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IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2022) 13-2

mineral water in the cropping system. Mineral water is a natural water source from the local village
forest, which farmers use for both consumption and agriculture. Through analysis, the mineralwater’s composition was found to contain several nutrients; one of which is silicon, known for its
role in alleviating the negative stresses, both biological and physical (Pati et al., 2016), in many
plant species (Epstein., 1999). Rice is typically high in silicone and can accumulate up to 10% of
its shoot dry weight (Ma et al., 2002).
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of our research was to study the effects of vermicompost and mineral water from thewellspring in the Ban Haubueng Community Forest, Nampong District, Khon Kaen Province,
Thailand; on the growth of rice cultivar KDML 105.
METHODOLOGY
Plant Materials and Experimental Design
The seeds of rice cultivar KMDL 105, which are widely planted in Northeast Thailand, were used
as plant materials. After soaking in tap water for 24 hours, the seeds were germinated at 30๐C for
12 hours and then sown in a basin. The seedlings were then transported to plastic pots 30 cm inheight and 30 cm in diameter, and grown under greenhouse conditions. The experiment wasconducted in the Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kean University, Khon Kean Province, Thailand.
Six treatments were adopted in the present study, and are described as follows: (T0) irrigationwater; (T1) irrigation water with vermicompost; (T2) mineral water; and (T3) mineral water withvermicompost.
The vermicompost used herein was produced by the Vermitechnology for Sustainable
Agriculture and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon Kean University, Khon Kaen,Thailand. The nutrients of vermicompost were analyzed and found various nutrients, as follows:
pH 9.05; EC (0.87 dS/m); Organic matter (11.14%); Total nitrogen (7.64 g kg-1); Total phosphorus(11.27 g kg-1); Total potassium (6.18 g kg-1); Magnesium (4.34 g kg-1); and Calcium (64.27 g kg-1).
Irrigation water and mineral water were collected from the Ban Haubueng, Nampong District,Khon Kaen Province. The sources of irrigation water come from irrigation canal from Nong Wai
Dam as a resources water for agriculture. The mineral water from the wellspring in Ban Haubueng
community forest as a naturally occurring water sources. The chemical composition of mineralwater was found to contain numerous nutrients, as follows: pH 6.81; EC (0.08 dS/m); NO-3 (6.28mg/L); Cu (0.002 mg/L); Mn (0.008 mg/L); Ni (0.003 mg/L); SiO2 (17.016 mg/L); and Si (7.954mg/L).
Measurements of Agronomic Traits
Rice (KDML 105) from each treatment was collected; and the plant height, biomass, number oftillers per hill, fill grains, 100-grain weight, and grain weight were measured. The biomass wasmeasured after being oven-dried at 70๐C for 48 hours.
Statistical Analyses
All experimental data were subjected to a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Statistix 10software. Differences among means were separated using the least significant difference (LSD) test
at a 5% probability level.
RESULTSⒸ ISERD45IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2022) 13-2

Growth Parameters of the rice cultivar KDML 105
The plant height, biomass, number of tillers per hill, fill grains, 100 grains weight, and grain weightof the KDML 105 rice cultivar are presented in Table 1. Plant height, fill grains, and grains perpanicle were significantly (p < 0.05) increased through the application of the vermicompost (T1,T3). The irrigation water application (T0, T1) presented significantly higher height, fill grains, andgrains per panicle than that of the mineral water application (T2, T3). The highest plant height(139.63 cm.) was found in the T1 treatment. However, the mineral water treatments produced
significantly (p < 0.05) higher amounts of biomass, number of tillers per hill, and grain weight thanthose found in T0 and T1. The highest number of tillers per hill and grain weight were found in theT3 treatment at 7.00 and 175.28 g. per plot, respectively. Regarding 100 Grain weight, there wereno significant differences between treatments. The highest 100 Grain weight (2.49 g.) was found inthe T3 treatment.
Table 1 Effects of vermicompost and mineral water on plant height, biomass, number oftillers per hill, fill grains, 100 grain weight, and grain weight of rice cultivar KDML
105
Treatment
T0 (irrigation water)
T1 (irrigation water with VC)
T3 (mineral water)
T4 (mineral water with VC)

Plantheight132.85
AB
139.63A
127.13B
130.19A

Biomass(g./plot)

Numberof tillersper hill

Fill grains(%)

100 Grainweight(g.)

Grainsperpanicle

Grainweight(g./plot)

53.03 B

3.75 B

61.81 A

2.42 AB108.00 A

125.31 C

58.04 B

3.88 B

63.18 A

2.35 B

119.44 A

154.01 B

87.80 A

7.00 A

31.87 B

2.49 A

78.13 B

175.28 A

86.19 A

7.00 A

38.32 B

2.45 AB

98.81 AB172.57 A

Treatments with the same letters are not significantly different at (P<0.05). VC = Vermicompost.

DISCUSSION
The present study applied vermicompost and mineral water in the growth of rice cultivar KDML
105. Our results of showed that plant height, fill grains, and grains per panicle increased with theapplication of vermicompost (T1, T3). These results are consistent with the previous studies that
demonstrated that the application of vermicompost enhanced the growth and development of crops(Blouin et al., 2019; Ruan et al., 2021; and Suleerak and Suchada, 2014), as a result of the richsource of readily available nutrients and growth hormones (Gandhi et al., 1997; Edwards, 1998)
present in the vermicompost. There is further expanded upon the composition of vermicompost asorganic fertilizer with multiple mineral elements (Patnaik et al., 2020; Ruan et al., 2021). As
previous studies reported, the application of silicon fertilizer alleviated negative stress effects andincreased the grain and straw yields, plant height, number of tillers, number of panicles, and 1000grain weight of rice (Ma and Takahashi, 2002; Pati et al., 2016; Cuong et al., 2017). There isresearch determined that the accumulation of silicon on the cell walls of the epidermal cells of riceleads to enhanced strength and rigidity of the cells, resulting in increased resistance to pests anddiseases, lodging, improved light interception, and reduced transpiration (Meena et al., 2014; Satheet al., 2021). We, therefore, surmised that the application of vermicompost and mineral water might
improve the stress resistance of rice; however, more studies should be performed at thephysiological level to further support this hypothesis.
CONCLUSION
The growth parameters of rice cultivar KDML 105; including plant height, panicles, grains perpanicle, and number of tillers per hill, improved through the application of vermicompost andⒸ ISERD46

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2022) 13-2

mineral water. Therefore, the utilization of mineral water from the wellspring community forest
with vermicompost is recommended as a viable agronomic practice to assist farmers in increasing
rice production. We train to produce their own vermicompost for using with mineral water toproduce quality rice.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to express their gratitude to both the Integrated Land and Water Resource
Management Research and Development Center in Northeastern Thailand and Vermitechnology
Centre for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment, Faculty of Agriculture, Khon KeanUniversity, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
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