Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research (ISSN : 0975-7384)

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Original Articles: 2012 Vol: 4 Issue: 5

Vermicomposting of water hyacinth with poultry litter using rotary drum reactor

Abstract

The trend of using inorganic fertilizers is on a boom amongst agricultural society, farmers are magnetized towards the short term advantages privileged by inorganic fertilizers, but they are unable to understand the ill effects these fertilizers on human health and soil fertility. This has necessitated looking for traditional fertilizers like vermicompost. Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) is one of the world's most destructive and noxious weed that has prolific growth rate. Many efforts were made to eradicate this weed but it has successfully resisted all the attempts. When looked from a resource angle, it has high organic content which makes it a potential source for vermicompost production. Hence possibility of converting water hyacinth to vermicompost with poultry litter as supplement was carried out in a rotary drum reactor. The reactor was fed 70% ground water hyacinth paste (3.5 kg), 10% aged poultry litter (0.5 kg) and 20% shredded cardboard (1 kg) along with 0.25 kg of Eisenia fetida earthworms. The reactor was rotated gently to facilitate better aeration and porosity. Moisture content, pH, carbon content, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were analyzed for every 15 days. After 45 days the product had 30% moisture, 9.67% Carbon with pH 7.26 while N, P, and K values were 0.72%, 0.51% and 0.60% respectively.