Chemical Characterization of Organic Amendments Prepared from Lignin-rich Waste and its impact on the Growth of Cicer arietinum and Phaseolus vulgaris

Composting is the regulated transformation of waste and biodegradable organic materials into stable products with the help of microbes. Rice husk and sawdust are substrates that contain high amount of organic matter but still are slow degraders due to presence of lignin and are generally considered an environmental burden. Therefore, in the present study, an attempt has been made to degrade such wastes by converting them into compost using a sustainable eco-friendly technique and controlling the influencing parameters. Two different types of compost were prepared using rice husk (R.C.) and sawdust (S.C.) as substrate. The efficacy of prepared compost has been evaluated in terms of growth parameters of plants. During the entire study period, a reduction of 16% to 49 % in organic matter content has been assessed using S.C. and 26% to 61% for R.C. The C:N ratio reduced from 127 to 20 in case of R.C whereas for S.C it reduced from 102 to 16. Total phosphorous was observed maximum 0.62% in S.C and 0.34% R.C. The germination value for Cicer arietinum has been found to be 100% in case of compost prepared from sawdust and rice husk. Similarly, in case of Phaseolus vulgaris the germination value of 90% has been obtained for substrate S.C. and 93% for substrate R.C. The highest value of 10.23mg/g of total chlorophyll and 2.73mg/g of ascorbic acid has been observed for Cicer arietinum in S.C. Also, for Phaseolus vulgaris the maximum total chlorophyll value of 5.93mg/g and 1.63 mg/g of ascorbic acid has been evaluated in S.C. The fertility index value of 3.4 for S.C and 3.22 for R.C respectively thus indicates the prepared compost in present study is of very good quality with medium fertilizing potential.