Author(s):
Livleen Shukla, Roaf A. Parray, K Annapurna, Satish D Lande, Indra Mani, Deeba Kamil
Abstract:
Management of crop residues has remained a major challenge due to lack of easily
adaptable and affordable interventions at farmer’s field. Cellulolytic bacteria and fungi have been
recommended for recycling lignocellulosic-rich organic matter and to convert it into nutrient rich
compost. However, these inoculants need to be generated on commercial scale for handling large
volume of biomass. Also, the microbial formulation should also be capable of degrading diverse type
of agri-residues. Seven fungal strains, namely Aspergillus awamori (F-18), Aspergillus nidulans,
Trichoderma viride, Trichoderma longibrachitum, Drechslera halodes, Eupenicillium crustaceum
and Paecilomyces variotii were characterized based on shelf life, functional activity to make
consortium for degradation of various agro and horticultural residues using pit method of composting.
An experiment was laid in cemented pits using four different substrates-maize cobs and stalks, paddy
straw, kinnow fruit waste and flower waste for rapid degradation. The results revealed a maximum
increase in spore count with Paecilomyces variotii followed by Eupenicillium crustaceum and
Drechslera halodes. Out of four different additives, glycerol was found to be most suitable additive
for incubation of selected fungi. The results on microbial population revealed highest bacterial
population in flower waste and highest actinobacterial population in kinnow waste. It was also
observed that inoculated organic waste degraded faster than un-inoculated wastes. As the degradation
process progressed, total N also increased with time and varied from 1.1 to 1.5 percent. Flower and
kinnow waste degradation was completed in 45 days while that of maize and paddy straw in 75 and
90 days, respectively. The pH range was 6.5-8.0 in all the substrates but in inoculated substrates, the
range of pH was 7.2-7.6, while electrical conductivity (EC) was 1.4-3.6. The highest humus% was
found with paddy straw followed by maize, flower and kinnow. The final product also showed
variation in K% and S% which were found to be 0.6% -1.8% and 0.1% -0.20%, respectively.
Pages: 27-36
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