Biological response of using municipal solid waste compost in agriculture as fertilizer supplement

Vaibhav Srivastava; Ademir Sergio Ferreira de Araujo; Barkha Vaish; Shannon Bartelt-Hunt; Pooja Singh; Rajeev Pratap Singh

doi:10.1007/s11157-016-9407-9

Biological response of using municipal solid waste compost in agriculture as fertilizer supplement

Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol. 2016;15(4):677-696. doi: 10.1007/s11157-016-9407-9. Epub 2016 Oct 5.

Authors

Vaibhav Srivastava¹, Ademir Sergio Ferreira de Araujo², Barkha Vaish¹, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt³, Pooja Singh¹, Rajeev Pratap Singh^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ 1Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
² 2Soil Quality Laboratory, Agricultural Science Center, Federal University of Piaui, Teresina, PI, Brazil.
³ 3Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE USA.
⁴ 4WARI Fellow, Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institite, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE USA.

Abstract

Waste management and declining soil fertility are the two main issues experienced by all developing nations, like India. Nowadays, agricultural utilization of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is one of the most promising and cost effective options for managing solid waste. It is helpful in solving two current burning issues viz. soil fertility and MSW management. However, there is always a potential threat because MSW may contain pathogens and toxic pollutants. Therefore, much emphasis has been paid to composting of MSW in recent years. Application of compost from MSW in agricultural land helps in ameliorating the soil's physico-chemical properties. Apart from that it also assists in improving biological response of cultivated land. Keeping the present situation in mind, this review critially discusses the current scenario, agricultural utilization of MSW compost, role of soil microbes and soil microbial response on municipal solid waste compost application.

Keywords: Agriculture; Biological response; Municipal Solid Waste (MSW); Municipal solid waste compost (MSWC); Soil fertility.

Publication types

Review