Earthworms drastically change fungal and bacterial communities during vermicomposting of sewage sludge

Abstract Wastewater treatment plants produce hundreds of million tons sewage sludge every year all over the world. Vermicomposting is well established worldwide and has been successful at processing sludge, which can contribute to alleviate severe environmental problems caused by its disposal. Here, we utilized 16S ITS rRNA high-throughput sequencing characterize bacterial fungal community composition structure during gut- cast-associated processes (GAP CAP, respectively) vermicomposting sludge. Bacterial communities earthworm casts were mainly composed microbial taxa not found in sludge; thus most (96%) (91%) eliminated vermicomposting, through GAP. Upon completion GAP modified undergo a succession process leading more diverse microbiotas than those Consequently, changed significantly vermicomposting. resulted stable rich with potential biostimulant properties that may aid plant growth. Our results support use vermicompost derived from for sustainable agricultural practices, if heavy metals or other pollutants are under legislation limits adequately treated.