Greener production of compost from agricultural biomass residues amended with mule dung for agronomic application

A Sofia Vizhimalar; M Vasanthy; C Thamaraiselvi; Muniyandi Biruntha; J Arockia John Paul; Anand Thirupathi; Soon Woong Chang; Zhi Xu; Sarah Al-Rashed; Ganesh Munuswamy-Ramanujam; Balasubramani Ravindran

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132561

Greener production of compost from agricultural biomass residues amended with mule dung for agronomic application

Chemosphere. 2022 Feb;288(Pt 2):132561. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132561. Epub 2021 Oct 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biotechnology, Mother Teresa Women's University, Kodaikanal, TamilNadu, India.
² Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University, Trichy, Tamilnadu, India.
³ Department of Biotechnology, Mother Teresa Women's University, Kodaikanal, TamilNadu, India. Electronic address: thamaraibiotechnology@gmail.com.
⁴ Department of Animal Health and Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630 003, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁵ Department of Zoology, Arumugam Pillai Seethai Ammal College, Tiruppattur, 630 211, Tamil Nadu, India.
⁶ Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, China. Electronic address: ananthzeal@gmail.com.
⁷ Department of Environmental Energy and Engineering, Kyonggi University, Youngtong-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-Do, 16227, Republic of Korea.
⁸ College of Resources and Environmental Science, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, 650201, China.
⁹ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ Interdisciplinary Institute of Indian System of Medicine, SRM-IST, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, 603203, India.
¹¹ Department of Environmental Energy and Engineering, Kyonggi University, Youngtong-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-Do, 16227, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kalamravi@gmail.com.

PMID: 34653478
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132561

Abstract

In this study agro-waste (Agwt) was aerobically composted using cow dung (CD) and mule dung (MD). Totally six different sets of compost treatments were prepared, as T1 (Agwt + CD, 1:1), T2 (Agwt + MD, 1:1), T3 (Agwt + CD, 1:3), T4 (Agwt + MD, 1:3), T5 (Agwt + CD, 3:1) and T6 (Agwt + MD, 3:1) in individual containers. All the compost treatments were degraded for 90 days. The organic wastes in the treatment containers were maintained with proper moisture level. All the final composts reached good manural stability and maturity index after 90 days. Among the six treatments, the T2 with Agwt + MD in 1:1 proportion attained a 10:1 C/N ratio and a near neutral pH (7.3). Indigenous microbes isolated and identified from the T2 compost sample showed protease, cellulase, amylase and lipase activities. The germination of Raphanus sativus L. seeds and vigorous plant growth parameters confirmed the non-pathogenic phytotoxic-free nature of finished composts. The radish crops supplied with T2 compost showed healthy tuber growth parameters (16.6 cm width, 35.6 cm length) compared with other treatments. The results from the experiments established that, the composts derived are eco-friendly amendment to plants and it has also improved the soil fertility due to its stability and maturity index. Thus, the present study concluded that composting agricultural crops waste with animal manure, especially mule dung promoted excellent biodegradation of organic complexes. It is a nature friendly solution for the management of solid waste such as agro-wastes utilizing mule dung.

Keywords: Agro-waste; Animal manure; Biodegradation; Manural stability; Raphanus sativus.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomass
Composting*
Equidae