MAYUR C. SHAH, HIMANSHU K. PATEL AND PRATEEK G. SHILPKAR
Abstract
Present study is aimed to continuously asses the changes in important composting parameters and plant nutrients content at monthly interval to find out the consistency of changes. Important parameters studied were pH, electrical conductivity, calcium, magnesium, chloride, available phosphorus, available potassium, total organic carbon, total nitrogen and ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N). Results show that values for pH, electrical conductivity, chloride, total organic carbon, and ratio of organic carbon to total nitrogen decreased; contents of available phosphorus and potassium increased; and contents of calcium, magnesium and total nitrogen remains almost same at maturity compared to that of cow dung before composting. Further, contents of all the above parameters fluctuate with composting period which shows consistency in microbial action.