Sugar Industry Wastes as Wealth of Organic Carbon for Soil

Abstract

The organic carbon management in the soil and its relationship with soil physiochemical and biological characteristics to increase the crop productivity have been described based on the byproducts of sugarcane. In this chapter, the available information on the nutrient content especially the organic carbon of various by-products of sugarcane, paves the way for incorporation of waste materials and its compost for improving the soil fertility by soil scientists and agronomists, and further, the ecologists will realize the importance of sugarcane waste and its meritorious characteristics of toxic residue free soil and food products in addition to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, especially methane and nitrous oxides due to applied of synthetic fertilizer in the cultivating field. We have compiled the information on relationship between organic carbon and soil characteristic, factors responsible for depletion of soil organic carbon and its management. The composting process for sugarcane press mud, bagasse, and trash to produce nutrient-rich manure for soil fertility management and its value on saving the purchase of chemical fertilizer leads to easy adoption of organic farming. Overall, we emphasized the importance of waste products of sugarcane and it's nutritive value to increase the soil fertility, crop productivity, and farm income.

Suitability of pressmud as an adsorption material in wastewater treatment and as a booster in soil fertility and productivity

“…Moreover, it also has a slightly alkaline pH of 8.54. The organic content of pressmud was 17.62%, indicating a significant concentration of macro-and micronutrients [13]. Pressmud contains a variety of macro-and microelements that plants need, frequently combined with other organic fertilizer sources in numerous techniques [3].…”

Minimising Coal Mining’s Impact on Biodiversity: Artificial Soils for Post-Mining Land Reclamation

“…Total soil organic carbon stocks in Polish upland meadows range from 1.27% to 17.9% in an optimally moist habitat [33]. Considering that organic matter contains 58% organic carbon [34], the percentage of OM in the accumulation layer of the soil cover of a mesic meadow ranges from 2.18% to 30.86%. There was a decrease in OM content from 23.54 to 20.01% in soil S3 and 25.34% to 20.48% in S5.…”

Pressmud alleviates soil sodicity stress in a rice–wheat rotation: Effects on soil properties, physiological adaptation and yield‐related traits

“…Such soil conditions are known to adversely affect the physiological (reduced photosynthetic and photochemical efficiency, stomatal limitation and/or metabolic impairment) and agronomic efficiency of growing plants (Hajiboland, Norouzi, & Poschenrieder, 2014; Munns, 2002; Tavakkoli, Fatehi, Coventry, Rengasamy, & McDonald, 2011). In addition, PM is known to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) and nutrient availability (Krishnaveni, Chinnasamy, Elumalai, & Muthaiyan, 2020), improve soil physical conditions (soil's water‐holding capacity, clay flocculation and aggregate stability) (Bhosale, Chonde, Nakade, & Raut, 2012; James, 2020; Lwin, Seo, Kim, Owens, & Kim, 2018) that, in turn, help improve soil water movement and facilitate the leaching of Na + ions to deeper soil layers (Choudhary, 2017; Qadir, Schubert, Ghafoor, & Murtaza, 2001), thus improving plant growth, crop biomass and yield. The results of this study thus confirm earlier studies that have observed beneficial effects of pressmud application in improving the plant salt tolerance, their associated improvement in environmental adaptability and the final crop harvest under sodic conditions (Dotaniya et al, 2016; A. Kumar et al, 2017; Sheoran et al, 2021; Yaduvanshi & Swarup, 2005).…”