School of Industrial Technology, Environmental Technology Division, University Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia.
Analytical Biochemistry Research Centre (ABrC), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018 Nov;25(31):31062-31070. doi: 10.1007/s11356-018-3074-z. Epub 2018 Sep 4.
Earthworms are commonly referred as environmental engineers and their guts are often compared with chemical reactors. However, modeling experiments to substantiate it are lacking. The aim of this study was to use established reactor models, particularly PFR, on the gut of the vermicomposting earthworm Eudrilus eugeniae to understand more on its digestion. To achieve the objective, a mathematical model based on first-order kinetics was framed and used to determine the pattern of digestion rates of nutrient indicators, namely total carbon (%), total nitrogen (%), C/N ratio, C (‰), and N (‰) at five intersections (pre-intestine, foregut, midgut A, midgut B, and hindgut) along the gut of E. eugeniae. The experimental results revealed that the concentrations of TC, TN, C, and N decreased during gut transit, whereas C/N ratio increased. The first-order model demonstrated that all the nutrients exhibit a linear pattern of digestion during gut transit, which supports the PFR model. On this basis, the present study concludes that the gut of E. eugeniae functions as PFR.
蚯蚓通常被称为环境工程师，它们的肠道经常被比作化学反应器。然而，缺乏证实这一点的模拟实验。本研究的目的是使用已建立的反应器模型，特别是活塞流反应器（PFR），研究堆肥蚯蚓（Eudrilus eugeniae）的肠道，以更深入地了解其消化过程。为了实现这一目标，基于一级动力学构建了一个数学模型，并用于确定营养指标（即总碳（%）、总氮（%）、碳氮比、C（‰）和 N（‰））在 E. eugeniae 肠道的五个交点（前肠、前胃、中胃 A、中胃 B 和后肠）的消化率模式。实验结果表明，TC、TN、C 和 N 的浓度在肠道转运过程中逐渐降低，而 C/N 比增加。一级模型表明，所有营养物质在肠道转运过程中都呈现线性消化模式，这支持了 PFR 模型。在此基础上，本研究得出结论，E. eugeniae 的肠道起活塞流反应器的作用。
