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Waste to wealth - Agriculture solid waste management study

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Article-27

Poll Res. 29 (3) : 129-133 (2010)

Copyright © EM International

WASTE TO WEALTH - AGRICULTURE SOLID WASTE

MANAGEMENT STUDY
M.LOKESHWARI1 AND C. NANJUNDA SWAMY2
1
Department of Civil Engg, R.V.College of Engineering, Bengaloru, Karnataka, India.
2
Department of Civil Engineering, Dr. AIT, Bengaloru, India.

ABSTRACT
India is an agricultural based country. Farmers are the back bones of our nation. In early days
farmers were using locally available natural materials like after harvest trashes, weeds, cow dung
etc. as manure. Later on they started using chemical fertilizers in view of fast growth and good
yield. Though they got good results in early days, after 10-15 years of continuous use agricultural
land becomes barren, crops becomes less resistant to environmental conditions. To dispose the
agriculture waste they started burning it and digest anaerobically in the land itself, which leads
to air pollution, release of obnoxious and green house gases. Use of chemicals as fertilizer is not
only expensive but also goes on accumulating in soil, crops, undergoes bio-magnification which
leads to health disorders. Chemical fertilizer is not feasible from economical, health,
environmental point of view and for this Indian farmers are committing suicide, instead they
could use indigenous technology and improve agricultural land. In view of this a was study
conducted on agricultural waste management through vermicomposting. Representative samples
were collected from a typical agricultural farm and allowed to decompose aerobically for about 22
days and then transferred to vermipits. Chemical analysis of samples shows significant decrease
in carbon content and good N,P,K in the final compost. Pre aerobic decomposition outside the
vermipit cut off the leachate and odour problem in vermipit and also reduces the overall time
required for composting. Present study gives bio-remedial recycling technology for agricultural
waste which meets a part of agricultural input and also conserves the environment.

KEY WORDS: Chemical fertilizer, Barren land, Agricultural waste, Vermicompost, Soil
enrichment.

INTRODUCTION several months. This may sometimes cause

Rural areas are back bones of our nation. National
wealth depends upon rural development.
Sanitation, water supply, civil works and especially
agricultural yield are the main parameters for rural
development. Now a days to get maximum yield
within shorter period, farmers are using chemical
fertilizers. No doubt these fertilizers give better
yield but their use causes permanent damage to the
soil texture. Usually farmers are adopting good old
methods for solid waste management. Major part of
the after harvest materials like straw, sugar cane
trashes, plants, grass etc are used for livestock
feeding. Remaining of these feedings, herbs, weeds
are usually dried and burned in the field or
otherwise farmers will leave the remainings in the
field, watered continuously and allows as it is for
anaerobic condition and leads to bad smell, attracts
flies and spread epidemic diseases. Therefore proper
management of solid waste in the agricultural field
is necessary.
Agricultural waste contains biodegradable
hemicellulose and cellulose materials, which on
decomposition gives good nutrients to plants.
Cowdung is commonly available in rural area which
rich in nutrients and micro organisms. Cowdung
can be used as good seeding material as it is
available in the agricultural farm itself from
livestock. One of the main aims of the study is to
reduce the overall time required for composting.
Therefore Cowdung is mixed with agricultural
waste as seeding agent (Kale, 2000)
Vermiculture is a biotechnology for converting
waste into compost. Fredrickson, (1997] worked on

Corresponding author : E-mail: 1eshwari_env@yahoo.co.in; eshwarienv08@gmail.com; 2swamy_vtu@yahoo.com

130 LOKESHWARI AND SWAMY

vermiculture and has demonstrated very Phase II: First harvest of vermicompost was
considerable economic potential of using done on 15th day after the introduction of worms.
earthworms to convert a wide range of organic Second harvest was on 5th day after the first harvest.
waste into valuable and efficient plant growth After that, vermicompost was collected twice in a
media. In the present study agricultural solid waste week. Each time 10-15cm of black layer of vermicast
is converted into valuable manure within 30 days by was scraped and made into conical shaped heaps.
using vermicomposting technology. Samples were Heaping facilitates the earthworms to get back into
analysed to understand the nutrient value of final the subsurface. Then the heap was collected and
compost. screened through 4mm sieve.
Samples were collected at different stages i.e.
MATERIALS AND METHODS before decomposition, at 50% decomposition stage
and after complete decomposition and analyzed for
Studies were conducted on the solid waste collected N, P, K and organic carbon. Samples were analyzed
from a typical agricultural farm consists of for CO 2 evolution, temperature, pH, moisture
commercial crops, food crops, flowers, fruits, content, on alternative days during the compost
livestock etc. Physical characteristics of the waste process.
were found out to check the feasibility of waste for
composting. About 800kg of solid waste and 200 kg RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
of Cowdung were used for the study. Earthworms of
species Perionyx excavatus, Eudrilus eugeniae, Eiscenia Physical characteristics of the waste are given in
fetida were collected from Karnataka Compost Table 1.
Development Corporation, Bangalore. As the Density and moisture content of the agricultural
worms were already acclimatized to waste feeding, solid waste is noted as 480.8 kg/m 3, 43.8%
they are directly used for vermicomposting. For this respectively. From the Table we can conclude that
study both young and adult worms were used. about 98% of agricultural waste was compostable.
These species of earthworms are capable of
inhabiting waste containing variety of organic Table 1. Physical Characteristics of Agricultural waste (%
materials, they were tolerant to temperature by Wet Weight)
variation and they grow in faster rate, reproduce Parameter % by Parameter % by
rapidly (Fredrickson, 1997). Earth worms cannot eat weight weight
raw waste. To make waste soft and favourable for Dry leaves 9.8 Weeds 5.9
earthworms feeding, waste were pre digested in Vegetable waste 15.6 Fresh grass 10.2
longer heaps for about 20 days. Aerobic condition Sugarcane trash 10.7 Eucalyptus 2.2
enhances the net production of short chain fatty Bananna waste 12.5 Coconut waste 4.3
acids and lowers pH (Raghunath Reddy, 2002). Flowers 3.6 Parthenium 1.1
Hence to maintain aerobic conditions turning was Ashes 3 Others 13.8
done manually twice per week and watered on Fruits waste 7.2
alternate days. Temperature of 40°C– 60°C was
maintained in this period (Nedgwa, 2001). Moisture Variation of pH
content maintained throughout the process was 40-
Initial pH of the wastes was 7.3±0.2, which was
60% (Engracia Madejon, 2002).
slightly alkaline. As the composting process
Phase I: Favorable conditions for the introduction
progresses, pH was reduced to 6.3±0.3 in the first
of earthworms taken for the study were reported
week. This decrease in the pH was due to the
that temperature <30°C and pH 7.0-8.5. To maintain
formation of simple organic acids by fermentation
these conditions in vermipits, it was watered for
process.
3days, mainly to reduce the temperature of the
Low pH phase prolongs if the material
waste. A spray of thin cow dung slurry was done to
composted under low oxygen condition (Engracia
make waste palatable to worms and also to increase
Madejon, 2002). Lowered pH in the medium,
microbial population. About 1 kg of earthworms
hampers the normal activity of worms and decline
was introduced to the pit. Moist gunny bags were
their population (Fredrickson, 1997). Therefore
placed on the top surface to maintain moisture and
proper aeration should be given to maintain
shade at the top layer of the waste.
 WASTE TO WEALTH - AGRICULTURE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT STUDY 131

required pH in active degradation period. So

aeration was done weekly twice to maintain pH
between 7-8. After eighth day pH starts rising and
finally stabilized at the pH around 8, which
indicates the completion of degradation process
(Fig. 1). This rise in pH from acidic range to alkaline
range was due to the activity of fungi and other
mesophilic organisms and also due to the formation
of Ammonia. At lower pH in addition to bacteria,
fungi acted upon the waste material and enhance Fig. 2. Variation of Temperature
the decomposition.

from the thermophilic stage to mesophilic stage.

Variation of Nitrogen Content
As the activity of microbes proceeds nitrogen is
consumed for their metabolism. Nitrogen is also lost
due to ammonification, which occurred due to high
moisture content at active degradation stage. Hence
Nitrogen content decreases at 50% decomposition
stage (Fig. 3). After the death of microbes again they
undergo decomposition and nitrogen content
Fig. 1. Variation of pH
increases slightly in the final product. Nitrogen
content is high in vermicompost compared to
Variation of Temperature
windrow compost due to the addition of mucus and
Initial temperature was around 30°C. As the nitrogenous excrements from the earthworms.
composting process progressed, temperature
increased to 62 + 3°C at around 6th to 8th day (Fig. 2).
This rise in temperature is necessary for the
destruction of pathogenic microorganisms. The rise
in temperature was due to the heat released by the
microbial activity in conversion of organic matter
and also the rate of degradation is very high at this
stage. Initial mesophilic stage was superseded by
thermophilic stage at around 21st day. Favorable
temperature for the earthworms to feed on waste is
around 30°C. So the temperature was brought down
from 44°C - 45°C to 33 + 2°C by watering for three
days. Further the temperature of 30°C was
maintained till the completion of the process. By
proper watering 40-60% of moisture content was
maintained throughout the process to maintain Fig. 3. Variation of Nitrogen
temperature.
Fredrickson (1997) suggested that the moisture
Variation of Organic Carbon and C: N ratio
content must be high enough to maintain the
biological activity but not so high to reduce the Reduction in carbon content was due to the
supply of oxygen needed for aerobic utilization of carbon by the microbes, which requires
microorganisms. In the active decomposition stage, carbon as a source to provide energy and material
i.e., during the first 21 days water molecules will for new cell. During active decomposition stage,
produce during the stabilization of organic material. microbial activity was more, cell multiplication was
Hence the moisture content increases at active in faster rate. So, more carbon has been utilized at
decomposition stage and temperature decreases faster rate in this stage (Fig. 4).
132 LOKESHWARI AND SWAMY

Fig. 6. Variation of Phospherous

Fig. 4. Variation of Organic carbon content

Fig. 5. Variation of C:N ratio

Fig. 7. Variation of Potassium

Hence percentage reduction of carbon content is Variation of Phosphorous and Potassium

high in 50% decomposed stage. As the microbial
Initial phosphorous content was 0.283% and
activity reduces after 50% decomposition stage rate
potassium content was 0.963% respectively. The
of carbon content reduction also reduces. As the
phosphorous and potassium content decreased till
carbon content and nitrogen reduces, C:N ratio also
50% decomposition stage due to utilization of
reduces at 50% decomposition stage. After that
phosphorous and potassium for the metabolism by
carbon content goes on reduces and nitrogen content
microbes and slightly increased during stabilization
slightly increases (Fig 3 and 4). So, C: N ratio again
(Fig. 6. and Fig. 7) due to the death and decay of
narrows down from 50% decomposition stage
microbes.
(Fig 5).

Table 2. Chemical Characteristics of Waste and Compost

Samples N% P% K% OC% C: N CO2 Ca Mg Zn Mn Cu Fe S
mg/50 mg/gm mg/ mg/ mg/ mg/ mg/ mg/
gm/day gm gm gm gm gm gm
IA 0.931 0.396 1.063 26.75 28.73 117 1.34 0.43 5.8 7.1 1.4 124.3 2.6
50%A 0.649 0.275 0.713 8.40 12.94 198 1.93 0.53 6.7 7.2 2.9 125.2 2.9
FA 1.331 0.474 1.284 5.0 3.76 108 3.98 1.67 9.69 11.72 7.68 173.82 4.98
IA - Initial agricultural waste
50% A - 50% decomposed agricultural waste
FA - Agricultural vermicompost
 WASTE TO WEALTH - AGRICULTURE SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT STUDY
CONCLUSIONS
Agricultural waste is no doubt organic waste and is
purely biodegradable. Hence it can be used for
composting. Cow dung is easily available seeding
material in rural area. If it is added with the waste
microbial activity increases and oxidation of organic
matter takes place in faster rate and stabilized
within shorter period. Also cowdung adds nutrient
to the compost. Thus increases the quality of final
compost.
Composting is the best method in which
agricultural solid waste can be recycled. Recycling is
truly an eco friendly technology through which we
can convert all organic waste into a product which is
rich in nutrient content and can replace chemical
fertilizer.
Limiting factors in suggesting composting as a
solid waste treatment methods are odour problem,
leachate, and unsanitary condition in the compost
yard. Moisture content, temperature and aeration
are the three main parameters to be controlled to
overcome these limiting factors. As the waste is
shifted to vermipits after preliminary decomposition
(21days) and as there is no leachate production after
preliminary decomposition. Quantity of worms
increase about the three times by the time of
completion of compost process which can be used
on large quantity of waste or it is of better salable
value.
Long term use of chemical fertilizer can be
disastrous for soil. But organic manure enriches the
agricultural field soil, if it is used constantly. It can
be used as an additional manure in early days and
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133
after 5-8 years of continues use soil gets enriched,
then organic manure can be used as substitute for
chemical fertilizer, which not only saves the cost of
chemical fertilizer but also after harvest materials
gets recycled in an eco friendly way. Contamination
of agricultural products by chemicals also gets
reduced.
REFERENCES
Engracia Madejon, 2002. New Approaches to establish optimum
moisture content for compostable materials, J. Bioresource
Technology, 85: 73-78
Fredrickson J., Morris, R.M. and Daniel, C. 1997. Combining
vermiculture with traditional green waste composting
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Goluke C.G. 1992. Bacteriology of composting, Bio cycle, 1, pp55
– 57.
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Standard Institution, New Delhi.
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