Vermiconversion of potato waste by Eisenia foetida and its application on the growth of Vigna radiata and Trigonella foenumgraecum

Abstract

The increasing waste generation rate, high collection cost and dwindling financial resources are the major problems faced by most of the developing countries for efficient solid waste management. In some cities, the organic waste (market, municipal, household) are dumped indiscriminately or littered on the streets causing environmental deterioration. Biological processes such as composting followed by vermicomposting using Eisenia foetida to convert vegetables waste in agriculturally useful organic fertilizer would be of great benefit. This present research work carried out for the production of valuable vermicompost from potato waste. Produced vermicompost can serve as a natural fertilizer giving high yield of plants having higher N (1.00 +- 0.01%), P (1400 +- 3 ppm), K (637 +- 10.25 ppm) content and diminish the C:N ratio. Vermicompost also showed good microbial diversity. The effect of vermicompost on the growth of Vigna radiata and Trigonella foenumgraecum was evaluated at pot and field level respectively. The pot level experiment performed in different six hexagonal pots with different amount of vermicompost and the field experiment was also conducted. The soil sampling and plant growth measurements were carried out at regular interval after the application of vermicompost. The results showed that addition of vermicompost maintain the soil property during the growth of plant. The soils treated with vermicompost had significantly more EC in comparison to unamended plots. Also significant effect of vermicompost on the plant growth was observed during experiment.