The term weed is used generally to unprofitable, troublesome or noxious growth and unwante plants in human controlled settings especially farms, fields and water bodies. Mechanical removal and weedicidal spray are common methods to eradicate weeds, but both these methods are not feasible. The disposal and decomposition of weed biomass is also a big problem. The present study deals with the use of weed biomass for the vermicomposting. Vermicompost of three common weeds of this area Parthenium hysterophorous, Lantana camara and Eichhornia cresipes was prepared as proposed by the Rajkhowa, et .al.(2005). The prepared vermicompost of all the three weeds was used as biofertilizer in soybean crop separately. The protein content was assessed at the regular interval of 15 days till 75 days, in all the vermicompost treatments. The study revealed that in all the three vermicompost treated soil protein content increased considerably over control. This clearly indicates that weed biomass can be utilized for vermicomposting, and the prepared vermicompost is beneficial for growing of crops.
Water is the resource that sustains all life on earth and is a key element of sustainable development. It is essential if human beings are to enjoy healthy and safe lives or realize social and economic development. Water pollution occurs when a body of water is adversely affected due to the addition of large amounts of materials to the water. Water pollution means such contaminations of water or such alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of water likely to create a nuisance or render such water harmful to public health or safety. Present study deals with the study of the pollution levels of Kshipra river at Bherugarh, Ujjain. There are many small scale textile, dyeing and printing industries in this locality. In these industries many chemicals, dyes, detergents, waxes, starch and cellulose are used. These industrial effluents are directly thrown in the river without prior treatment. Due to this effluent, river water gets polluted hence this water becomes unfit for drinking, bathing and even washing purposes. The physicochemical study of river indicates that river water is highly polluted. All parameters showed higher values than the prescribed standard values.