MANJUSHA W.A., DEEPA P.K., JOSPHINE J.S. AND AHIL RAJ S.
Abstract
Agricultural waste disposal is a major problem in agricultural sector. The use of agricultural waste for making compost is a better way for waste management. On this aspect a study was conducted to make use of agricultural waste to a useful product that could be beneficial to agriculture. The experiment on vermicomposting using various agricultural wastes was performed to improve the quality of vermicompost. The effect of various agricultural wastes such as paddy straw T1, banana leaf T2 and banana pseudostem T3 wastes were determined. From the results of the study, it was found that vermicompost productivity was 58ñ1.3% in T1, 50.5ñ2.3% in T2 and 46.5ñ1.8% in T3. The result suggested that T3 (banana pseudostem + 30% cow dung) showed significantly higher NPK content (1.86ñ0.07, 0.88ñ0.02 and 1.74ñ0.02%) and short harvest period when compared to vermicomposting using paddy straw and banana leaf waste. The pH, EC and organic carbon were reduced in all the three (T1, T2 and T3) treatments. Hence from the current study, it was concluded that massive amount of banana pseudostem wasted after harvest can be used to make vermicompost with less effort and low cost with potential application in agriculture and thereby reduce air and land pollution.