Biochemical changes during composting of coir pith waste as influenced by different agro industrial wastes

doi:10.4236/as.2013.45B005

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Vol.4, No.5B, 28-30 (2013) Agricultural Sciences

doi:10.4236/as.2013.45B005

Biochemical changes during composting of coir pith

waste as influenced by different agro industrial

wastes

T. Muthurayar1, M. S. Dhanarajan2

1Research Scholar, Sathyabama University, Chennai; [email protected]

2Principal, Jaya College, Thiruninravoor

Received 2013

ABSTRACT

Coir pith, a byproduct of coconut husk is diffi-

cult to decompose due to its high lignin and

cellulose content. In this study, coir pith was

composted with different agro industrial by

products such as cow dung, vegetable market

waste, poultry waste and microbial consortium.

The different treatment combinations used in

the present study were Control, T1 (Coir pith +

Cow dung + Vegetable market waste + Poultry

waste + mixed microbial culture (Trichoderma

viridae + Pleurotus sajar caju), T2 (Coir pith +

Vegetable market waste + Poultry waste + Tank

slit + Mixed microbial culture ) and T3 (Coir pi th +

Cow dung + poultry waste + tank slit + mixed

microbial culture). At the end of 12th week, in the

treatment T1, C: N ratio of 21.8:1 was observed

in the composted coir pith sample. Highest P

content of 0.47% and K content of 1.2% and the

least Cellulose and Lignin contents of 22.8% and

10.03% were recorded in the T1 treatment after a

composting period of 12 weeks. Highest pH of

7.4 was observed in the treatment T3, this was

followed by T1 (7.2 ) treatment.

Keywords: Coir Pith Compost; Agro Industrial

Wastes; C:N Ratio; Tr ichoderma Viridae and

Pleurotus Sajar Caju

1. INTRODUCTION

Composting is the biological decomposition and stabi-

lization of organic substrates under conditions that allow

development of thermophilic temperature, to produce a

final stable product, free of pathogens and weed seeds

and can be beneficially applied to crops. Composting has

a wide range of applications in agriculture, economy, and

environment [6]. In composting the wastes are converted

into value added products that help to increase the reve-

nue of the farmers and industrialists since waste and the

by-product of one industry can be raw material for an-

other industry [2]. Coir pith has high moisture retention

property (500% - 600%) and K con tent. These properties

could be successfully exploited for agricultural use.

Taking this into account, th e present investigation was

undertaken with an attempt to convert the carbon rich

materials into compost using various industrial wastes

and microbes by utilizing different treatment methods.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Collection of Samples

The coir pith materials were collected from Uthama-

palayam, Theni district, Tamilnadu, India.

2.2. Experimental Details

The experiment was conducted in time duration of 12

weeks. For this experiment coir pith was mixed with

various components such as cow dung; vegetables mar-

ket waste, poultry waste, tank slit and microbial mixed

cultures. Coir pith treated with above additives to en-

hance the composting efficiency (Table 1).

Table 1. The Experimental details of the different treatments

used for biocomposting of coir pith waste.

Treatments Details of industrial waste componen ts

C Coir pith

T1 Coir pith + Cow dung + Vegetable market waste +

Poultry waste + Mixed microbial culture (Tricho-

derma viridae + Pleurotus sajarcaju)

T2 Coir pith + Vegetable market waste + Poultry

waste + Tank slit + Mixed microbial culture

T3 Coir pith + Cow dung + poultry waste + tank slit +

Mixed microbial culture

T. Muthurayar, M. S. Dhanarajan / Agricultur al Sciences 4 (2013) 28-30 29

2.3. Compost Bed Preparation

Organic additives were weighed on fresh weight basis

and added individually. Coir pith was spread and com-

pacted well to get a layer of combination using different

additives such as cow dung, vegetable market waste,

mixed microbial culture, tank slit and poultry waste. 10

mg of Microbial cultures (Inoculation load 1 × 107 Cfu)

was added and a moisture content of 50% - 60% was

maintained. Height of each layer was maintained at a

height of 10 cm. Over this another layer was made with

coir pith. This procedure was repeated an d finally the top

of each cistern was covered with soil slurry. Turning was

given once in every three weeks and required reading

was made periodically. At the end of the 12th week, the

samples were analyzed for their biochemical properties

such as organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and po-

tassium according to the methods of Sadashivam and

Manickam [5] and Jackson [3]. Cellulose and Lignin

content of the samples were determined periodically ac-

cording to the methods of Ververis et al. [7]. The initial

Biochemical composition of raw coir pith is presented in

Tab le 2. The final biochemical constituents were deter-

mined at the end of 12th week according to the protocols

as described earlier.

3. RESULTS

Biochemical composition of raw coir pith was evalu-

ated and presented in Table 1. Raw coir pith recorded

phosphorous, potassium, cellulose and lignin contents of

0.02, 0.30, 35.7 and 54.3%, respectively. The pH was

found to be acidic (5.4) and C: N ratio was found to be

high (162:1).

Changes in the different biochemical constituents such

as C: N ratio, Phosphorous, Potassium, Cellulose, and

lignin contents and pH was recorded at different intervals.

There was a steep decrease in the C: N ratio at the end of

third week and this trend contin ued up to a period of 12th

week. At the end of 12th week in treatment T1, a C: N

ratio of 21.8:1 was observed in the composted coir pith

sample. Irrespective of the observed samples there was a

slight increase in the pH content of samples. Highest pH

of 7.4 was observed in the treatment T3; this was fol-

lowed by T1 and T2 treatments that recorded a pH of 7.2

and 6.7, respectively. There was an increase in the K

content of coir pith as influenced by different treatment

methods. This increase was found to be significantly

higher in all treatments, when compared to control.

Highest K content of 1.2% was recorded in the T1

Treatment. No significant differences in P content were

observed in all treatments, when compared to control

treatment up to a time period of 2 weeks. After a period

of 3 weeks a steep increase in P content was observed.

This increase was found to significantly higher, com-

pared to control. Maximum P content of 0.47% was ob-

served in T1 Treatment, followed by 0.45%, and 0.39%

in T2, and T3, respectively (Table 2).

Cellulose content of all treatments was found to be

significantly decreased at the end of 12 weeks of com-

posting period. However, no significant differences among

different treatments were observed during the entire pe-

riod. At the end of the 12th week of composting period

the cellulose content recorded in T1, T2, and T3 treat-

ments, were 22.8%, 25 .8% and 27.3%, respectively. Lig-

nin content among treatments was found to be signifi-

cantly decreased after 9th week of treatment. At the end

of the composted period of 12th week the lignin content

recorded at different treatments were T1, T2, and T3

were 10.3%, 15.3% and 23.3%.

At the end of composting period of 12 weeks the dif-

ferent biochemical constituents of the composted coir

pith was analyzed and presented in table 2. The least C:

N ratio of 21.8: 1, cellulose content of 22.8% and lignin

content of 10.3 was observed in the T1 treatment (Table 3).

Table 2. Biochemical Composition of raw coir pith.

Properties Values

Organic c arbon(%) 50.4

Nitrogen(% ) 0.31

Phosphorus(%) 0.02

Potassium(%) 0.30

Cellulose(%) 35.7

Lignin (%) 54.3

pH 5.4

EC 1.5

C:N 162:1

Table 3. Biochemical Composition of composted coir pith as

influenced by different treatments.

Properties Values

Treatments Control T1 T2 T3

Organic carbon (%) 42.07 28.01 30.0 28.7

Nitrogen(% ) 1.02 1.28 1.25 1.24

Phosphorus(%) 0.02 0.47 0.45 0.39

Potassium(%) 0.42 1.2 0.89 0.77

Cellulose (%) 31.3 22.8 25.8 27.3

Lignin (%) 48.7 10.3 15.1 23.3

pH 6.0 7.2 7.4 6.7

C:N 41.2 21.8 31.3 23.1

T. Muthurayar, M. S. Dhanarajan / Agricultur al Sciences 4 (2013) 28-30

4. DISCUSSION

Significant changes in OC, lignin and cellulose con-

tent were observed among the different treatments. This

results are in line with the findings of Barder and

Crawdford [1], who reported that the C: N ratio nar-

rowed when coir pith was composted with different addi-

tives such as these workers attributed this higher de-

composition ratio the presence of adequate nutrients.

Openly accessible at

After 12 weeks of composting period there was a con-

siderable increase in the N, P, and K contents among the

different treatments Kadalli et al. [4] observed highest N

and P contents in coir pith, composted with Pleurotus,

cow dung, garden weeds, sun-hemp, rock phosphate and

micronutrients. These authors also reported that in this

study the N content of the composts ranged from 1.02%

to 1.38% and the OC content ranged from 30.24% to

43.76% and C:N ratio has been drastically reduced to

21.91 due to increase in N content and loss of carbon as

CO2.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the authorities of Sathyabama University for their

support in executing this Research Project.

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