Quality Comparison of Vermicompost Prepared from Sugarcane Trash and Paddy Straw Mixed with Cattle Dung through Process of Partial Decomposition andSubsequent Vermicomposting

摘要

An experiment was carried out on the preparation of vermicompost using sugarcane trash (ST) and paddy straw (PS) as raw materials mixing with cattle dung (7 to 10 days old) at LRS farm of Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari during 2007 through process of partial decomposition and subsequent vermicomposting. The excre mental design was FRBD and treatments were replicated thrice. Five different treatments viz. T_1 (Control): 70: 30 (w/w) (Cattle Dung: ST or PS), T_2: T_1 + Azotobacter (AZB) + Rockphosphate (RP), T_3: T_1 + Azospirillium (AZS) + RP, T_4: T_2 + PSB and T_5: T_3 + PSB were imposed separately for two sources of raw materials i.e. ST and PS. Slurry of decomposing culture(VSI- DCM) @1 kg, 8 kg urea, 10 kg SSP and 100 kg cow dung per ton of raw material, was added in each treatment. Cultures of Azotobacter or Azospirillium or PSB each @ 100 gm / m~3 of raw material and Rock phosphate (5% of raw material by weight) were applied as per treatments. All the treatments were allowed to decompose maintaining optimum moisture (around 60 %) with two intermittent turnings. After 27 days Earthworms (Eudrilus enginae) were inoculated @ 500gm /m~3 of raw material in each treatment and allowed for vermicomposting for about 75 days. Samples of vermicompost were collected and analyzed for pH, EC, Organic Carbon,total N, total P, K, Ca, and Mg content and also for Na, Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu content and C: N ratio was computed. Analytical data were analyzed statistically. The result revealed that Electrical conductivity (EC), Organic carbon (OC), C: N ratio, N, P ,Caand all the four micronutrient contents of prepared vermicompost differed non-significantly as to varying treatments and sources (ST and PS) of raw materials. C:N ratio varied from 14.2 to 16.5 and 13.6 to 16.4 respectively under ST and PS in different treatments. However N, P and K content varied from 1.84 to 1.99, 0.82 to 0.94 and 0.46 to 0.56 percent respectively under ST treatment, while the same under PS were 1.70 to 1.92, 0.81 to 1.01 and 0.50 to 0.63 percent respectively. PH and K content were non-significant due to varying treatments ,but were significantly higher in case of PS. Mg content varied significantly due to treatments and sources, while Na content differed significantly in treatments. Application of rock phosphate tended to show higher P, Mg and Na content. Application of AZB / AZS / PSB and RP over DCM did not bring significant benefit in terms of N and P content of vermicompost and C: N ratio. Thus it can be concluded that cattle dung with either ST or PS (70:30 w/w) can be used for preparation of good quality vermicompost. As paddy straw is mostly used as feed material, sugarcane trash which is available in large quantity in sugarcane belt can be a very good raw material for preparation for good quality vermicompost