In addition to producing good fertilizer, those red wiggler worms used in composting may add another benefit to the soil.
Researchers at Cornell University recently found that microbes in vermicompost can help prevent a pathogen whose mobile spores infect crop seedlings and causes them to wither shortly after germination, according to a news release.
“We know the microbes are actually adding something the zoospores don’t like,” Cornell doctorate candidate Allison Jack said in a statement. “Now we just have to find out what it is.”
The researchers said certain composts can suppress diseases, but it is still unknown which of the thousands of microbes in healthy compost are responsible for suppressing which diseases.
The university said it will be working with Avon, N.Y.-based Worm Power, which produces 2.5 million pounds of vermicompost a year, for further studies.