Studies on Selected Bacteria and Glycolytic Enzyme Activities in the Gut of Eudrilus eugeniae

The earthworms feed on organic materials, fragment and digest them in the gut by their own enzymes and with the help of ingested microorganisms, and excrete nutritionally rich feces or casts. When earthworms feed on organic matter, they ingest many microorganisms, some of which are digested by the worms. However, certain survived organisms grow and flourish when the casts are excreted (Dash et al., 1984; Lee, 1985; Edward, 1988; Tiwari et al., 1990). The enzymatic activities like cellulase, amylase, protease, chitinase etc. have been studied in the Lumbricidae family (Laverack, 1963; Tracey 1951). In temperate zones, studies on earthworm digestive enzyme activities have been conducted only in the Lumbricidiae family (Garvin et al., 2000). It is further reported that the quantitative studies on digestive enzymatic activities have also been limited to certain types of enzymes only in limited earthworm families (Tracey, 1951; International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 4 (2017) pp. 2256-2264 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com