Iranian Journal of

Background and Objectives:Nowadays vermicompost production of food wastes is posed as one of appropriate methods to food wastes. disposal, its production used in agriculture and gardening. Moreover this process has some by products beside useful fertilizer that one of them is the worms. we can use them in variety of products specially in production of poultry and fish food. So determination of optimal condition for operating vermicompost production process of food wastes and worms. growth in these wastes is important. The aim of this study was determination of optimal temperature and moisture range for process progression in vermicompost production of food wastes.
Materials and Methods: In this study we used Eisenia foetida species. Process performed in pots with 15 cm (h) and 12 cm (d) and in a mouth period of time. Three ranges of temperature including 5-15, 15-25, 25-35 oC and three ranges of moisture including 55-65%, 65-75%, 75-85% were applied in this study.
Results: Multivariate analysis was used for analyze of results and it showed that influence of temperature and moisture on C:N ratio is significant in vermicomposting process (p <0.05).
Conclusion: The results showed that the range of temperature 15-25 oC is more appropriate for operating of process. Due to these study.s results with increasing or reduction of ambient temperature, like summer and winter, conservation of moisture around the range of 65-75 %, is effective in better performance of the process. According to this study.s results, it seems that the temperature of 15- 25 oC and moisture of 65-75% are better conditions for worm.s growth.

Background and objective: Compost is beneficial for conditioning the structure and nutrient content of soil. Toxic metals are the most important contaminants that can enter the food chain through the compost products and affect human health. The aim of this study was to assess the arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and lead levels in six brands of vermicompost produced from the organic solid wastes in Tehran and to compare the amounts with the international and national standard levels.

Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive - analytical study in which samples of six brands of vermicompost products were randomly selected from the distribution centers in Tehran, and from each brand four samples were prepared (24 samples). Then the samples were extracted using the TCLP (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure) method and after filtration the metal concentrations were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP). All data were analyzed using Excel software.

Results: The means and standard deviations of the toxic metals concentrations (arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and lead) in the collected samples of each brand were reported in terms of mg/kg. The maximum concentrations of these toxic metals were 7.45, 0.15, 0.19, and 79.95 mg/kg, respectively.

Conclusion: The results indicated that the levels of toxic metals in the vermicompost samples derived from the municipal solid waste in Tehran were lower than the permissible limits of the national and international standards.