10.22376/ijpbs.2019.10.1.p1-12 Volume 4 Issue 4 2013 (October - December) The paddy straw is one of the most abundant agricultural by-products in Tamil Nadu, India. It contains approximately 37% cellulose, 24% hemicelluloses and 15% lignin. In the present investigation the paddy straw was pre-digested with lessThan i greaterThan Trichoderma viride lessThan /i greaterThan and subsequently the same was utilized for the production of vermicompost by using lessThan i greaterThan Eudrilus eugeniae, Perionyx excavatus lessThan /i greaterThan and lessThan i greaterThan Lampito mauritii lessThan /i greaterThan under monoculture conditions.The conversion ratio of waste into vermicompost was found to be high (71%) in the trays in which lessThan i greaterThan E. eugeniae lessThan /i greaterThan was used. Further, it was observed in the end product the lessThan i greaterThan E. eugeniae lessThan /i greaterThan produced more number of cocoons and young ones when compared to the other two cultures. The vermicompost harvested from lessThan i greaterThan E. eugeniae lessThan /i greaterThan experimental trays showed remarkable levels of chemical nutrients and higher density of microbial population lessThan i greaterThan viz., lessThan /i greaterThan Bacteria, Actinomycetes and Fungi than the other experimental trays. The results of the present study apparently suggest that in though all the three earthworm species can be used for converting paddy straw (pre-digested with lessThan i greaterThan T. viride lessThan /i greaterThan ) into value added vermicompost, lessThan i greaterThan E. eugeniae lessThan /i greaterThan in is very effective. J.VIJI AND P. NEELANARAYANAN Paddy straw, Trichoderma viride, Eudrilus eugeniae, Perionyx excavatus, Lampito Mauritii, Chemical nutrients, Bacteria, Actinomycetes and Fungi 986-995