Field Guide of Discovery-based Exercises for - Aseanipm ...

Section 3 • Living Soil, Integrated Soil Nutrient and Crop Managements
5 Fill each container with layers of clay, sand, loam, and plant debris in that order. The top
layer should be soil from where earthworms were found. See picture below:
One of two containers
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thick cloth
string
tiny air holes
plant debris
found loam
sand
soil taken from where worms are
clay
strips of old newspaper
drainage holes
5 Add enough water to moisten plant debris;
5 Put earthworms into one of containers. Label this container ‘with earthworms’;
5 Cover container with a cloth and secure with a string or rubber band;
5 Cover sides of containers with dark cloth. Make sure contents of both containers are
always kept slightly moist;
5 Observe what changes will take place in containers over two weeks;
5 After two weeks, plant two seeds in each container of soil. Keep soil moist until seeds
sprout, and then water seedlings as necessary.
5 Observe differences in growth of seedlings in two containers.
2. Go back to processing area; brainstorm in small groups and present output to big group. Conduct
participatory discussion to allow sharing of experiences among participants and facilitators.
Motivate farmers to share their observations and experiences in studying some important role
of earthworms in improving soil fertility and productivity for organic vegetable farming.
3. Synthesize and summarize output of small groups into one big group output. Draw up
conclusions and recommendation from this exercise.