Composting of sugarcane trash by using a microbial consortium

Abstract

In sugarcane farms, sugarcane trash has been a potential source of raw materials that can be processed into organic fertilizer. The present study aims to examine the ability of fungal and bacterial decomposers to decompose sugarcane trash. Further, our study is to examine the composting rate and compost quality of sugarcane trash. Three fungal species and three bacterial species were used for the evaluation of the decomposition of sugarcane trash. The combination of fungal decomposers consists of Aspergillus awamori, Penicillium chrysogenum and Trichoderma viride. The combination of bacterial decomposers consists of Pseudomonas fluorescence, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus polymixa. Four treatments are prepared: the first is fungal decomposers, the second is bacterial decomposers, the third is a combination of fungal and bacterial species, and the fourth is control (void decomposers). Two turnings of compostable material were done at 15 and 30 days. The decomposer dose used was 10 ml of each bacteria (concentration: 2.2×10 9 CFU/ml) or fungus (2×10 6 CFU/ml) per 10 kg of sugarcane trash for each treatment. Composting was conducted for 70 days. The samples were drawn after 70 days for analysis of different parameters. In this study, decomposition rate, decomposing percentage, weight loss, C:N ratio, pH, total nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, etc. were analyzed after the completion of the decomposition process. This experiment proved that the third treatment, a combination of fungal and bacterial species was more effective in terms of composting rate and compost quality.