Vermicompost Production Using Dry Coconut FrondsA Waste Recycling Technology in Coconut Gardens

摘要

An attempt was made at ZARS, Navile, Shimoga, for recycling dried coconut fronds through vermicomposting. Around 5.58 tones of vermicompost can be produced out of coconut fronds available from one ha plantation in a year having nutrient composition of1.38, 0.31, and 0.24 per cent of N, P and K, respectively, and N-fixing and P solubilizing organisms. Coconut is one of the important commercial crops of Karnataka State. It is not only a source of food (Fresh and dry coconut, oil) and drink (tender coconut) but also provide raw materials for coir industry in rural areas, particularly in Southern and Central Dry Zones of Karnataka comprising Tumkur, Hassan, Bangalore, Mysore, Chitradurga, Chickmagalur and Kolar districts. It is one of the main sourcesof fuel. Tones of dry coconut shell, husk and frond are being burnt annually in the state. Otherwise, this huge quantity of bio resource can be converted into good manure which can.partly substitute part of the fertilizer nutrition of the crops grown inthe region.