Changes in enzymatic activities and microbial properties in vermicompost of water hyacinth as affected by pre-composting and fungal inoculation: A comparative study of ergosterol and chitin for estimating fungal biomass

In this experiment, three different fungal species, viz. Trichoderma viridae, Aspergillus niger and Phanerochaete chrysosporium, were inoculated in 7 day and 15 day partially decomposed water hyacinth to study their effect on enzymatic activities, microbial respiration and fungal biomass of the final stabilized product. The results suggested that increasing the duration of pre-composting from 7 days to 15 days did not show any significant effect on the activities of hydrolytic enzymes. Inoculation of fungi significantly (P ⩽ 0.05) increased cellulase, protease and acid and alkaline phosphatase activities. The highest value of ergosterol was recorded in A. niger-inoculated vermicomposts. Inoculation of P. chrysosporium in initial organic waste registered the highest chitin content in vermicompost. A comparison of fungal biomass and chitin content revealed a conversion factor of 2.628 with a standard deviation of 0.318. Due to significant correlation (r = 0.864), this conversion factor allows for the calculation of fungal biomass from chitin, which is comparatively more stable than ergosterol.