Reprodução e desenvolvimento de minhocas gigante africana (Eudrilus eugeniae) em Lodo de Esgoto produzido na cidade de Gurupi, Estado do Tocantins

The current study aimed to evaluate the breeding and developmen of worms (Eudrilus eugeniae) in differentdilutions of sewage sludge produced in the city of Gurupi, Tocantins State, under of natural shade in forest savannaand controlled humidity conditions. The experiment was conducted between the months of April to July 2011.Assessments were made after 30, 60 and 90 days, and the numbers of births and deaths of worms was compared inthree substrates: T1 = pure sewage sludge, T2 = 75% sewage sludge + 25% rice husk and T3 = 50% sewage sludge+ 50% rice husk, maintained at 80% moisture by artificial irrigation. The results were analyzed by Tukey tests. Thelargest numbers of births occurred in treatment T2 at 30 days but there were no significant differences in the finalquantities of worms between the three treatments. The treatment T3 gave the highest average reproductive. Therewas a tendency to increase the biomass of the worms as the sewage sludge concentration was diluted.Key words: sewage sludge, Eudrilus eugeniae, earthworms, vermicomposting