Valorisation of Biowaste and Aquatic Invasive Plants Through Compost Production for Agricultural Use

Abstract

This study evaluates the quality and performance of compost produced from household biowaste (CBIO), aquatic invasive plants (CAIP) and a mixture of the invasive plants and biowaste (CBAIP) in comparison with mineral fertilizer (NPK) application. The composts were produced using Aerobin 400Composter with aquatic invasive plant collected from the Owabi dam and solid biowaste from households within the Owabi catchment in the Ashanti Region of Ghana as feedstock. A eld experiment in a 35 m x 19 m plot of maize was conducted with 9 treatments of the different compost produced and mineral fertilizers in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 4 replications. The results show that the compost types produced have acceptable quality with regards to nutrients (NPK), organic matter (OM), organic carbon (OC), bulk density, porosity, and heavy metal contents (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, As, Ni) among other properties. Grain yields following treatment with CAIP (2.06 ± 0.692 tons/ha), CBAIP (2.15± 0.668 tons/ha) and CBIO (2.052 ± 0.915 tons/ha) were similar to grain yields from NPK application (2.55 ± 0.611 tons/ha) but signi cantly higher than the control (1.34 ± 0.500 tons/ha) at 5%. The results show that the different compost types produced have bene cial impacts on grain yields comparable to NPK application. It is, therefore, concluded that aquatic invasive plants and biowaste are suitable feedstock for the production of high-quality compost that signi cantly improves grain yields. Statement Of NoveltyThe potential of household biowaste and aquatic invasive plants as bioresources is not well-understood and therefore valorisation practices are scarce especially in developing countries. As a result of this biowaste and waste from harvested aquatic invasive plants are disposed of by land lling and another unsustainable and environmental unfriendly manner. This study demonstrated the suitability of biowaste and seven different aquatic invasive plant species as feedstock for compost production for agricultural use. The novelty of this study is that it offers a shift in paradigm from viewing household biowaste and biomass of aquatic invasive plants as an environmental menace to bioresources for agrarian livelihood development through composting.