Abstract

The paper dealt with the impact of different litters on biomass, instantaneous growth and secondary production of Perionyx sansibaricus cultured in artificial soil for 21 weeks. Biomass of the P. sansibaricus in Mangifera indica litter varied from a minimum value of 30.25 to maximum value of 380.51 g dry wt/m², 20.34 to 340.89 g dry wt/m² in Acacia auriculaeformis litter and 30.21 to 310.43 g dry wt/m² in Eucalyptus citriodora litter. The rate of instantaneous growth reached a maximum value of 97.95 and 91.64% on 1st week for Eucalyptus and Acacia and 69.98% during 3rd week in Mango litter, but it declined to -25.52% in 13th week, -22.1% in 18th week and -14.56% in the 15th week of the experiment for Eucalyptus, Acacia and Mango respectively. Maximum secondary production was recorded in Mango litter (680.59 g dry wt/m²/week), followed by Eucalyptus (509.95 g dry wt/m²/week) and Acacia (484.39 g dry wt/m²/week) respectively. The maximum value of biomass as well as secondary production of earthworm in Mango litter could be due to suitability of the active principle ofMangiferin which does not have any adverse impact on the earthworms.

Key words: Mangiferin, biomass, secondary production, instantaneous growth, litter.