Yadvika1, Nitin Karwasra2*, Yogender Kumar Yadav3, Kanishk Verma4 andKamla Malik5
1‒4Dept. of Renewable and Bio-energy Engineering, COAE&T, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana (125 004), India
5Dept. of Microbiology, COBHS, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana (125004), India
Email: karwasra.nitin@gmail.com
Received-05.03.2023, Revised-14.03.2023, Accepted-25.03.2023
Abstract: Soil health and crop production can be effectively maintained by using renewable biological resources, such as compost and vermicompost. With an annual production of nearly 87 mt of rice and 120 mt of paddy straw, rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important cereal crop in India. The majority of the paddy straw produced is used for roofing material, animal feed, fuel, and packaging and remainder is burned in the field. Paddy straw, however, is also not recommended as an animal feed because of its low protein content, weak palatability, high silica (11‒25%) and lignin content (12%), as well as its low digestibility. The present study investigates the vermicompost preparation using paddy straw and vegetable waste along with biogas slurry in different proportions. Four treatments were selected having different ratios of paddy straw, biogas slurry and vegetable waste T1 (5:2:3), T2 (4:2:4), T3 (3:5:2) and T4 (2:3:5), respectively. The earthworm used for making compost was Eiseniafoetida. Preparation takes 84, 73, 66, 51 days for T1, T2, T3, and T4. During vermicomposting experiment, pH among all the treatments was decreased at the final stage as compared to the initial substrate. T3 showed highest increase in nitrogen content followed by T1, T2 and T4. The treatment T1 indicated highest initial and final potassium content. TOC reduction, as compared to initial level was in the order: T4 (49.06%)>T3 (35.28%)>T2 (27.73)>T1 (17.84%). T3 although took 84 days but turned out to be best in terms of nutrients availability.
Keywords: Biogas slurry, NPK, Paddy straw, Vegetable waste, Vermicompost
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