1Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, College of Agriculture, Nagpur, Maharashtra India
2C.S.S.S. (P.G.) College, Machara, Meerut, U.P., India
3Department of Agronomy, B. A. C.O.A., Anand, A.A.U., Anand, Gujarat, India
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh India
*Email: raj80v@gmail.com
Online published on 9 August, 2012.
The investigation was aimed to determine the characteristics of different composts prepared by using wheat straw adopting suitable techniques, which are easily adopted by farmers and are cheaper and cost-effective, having higher manurial value. Amongst different methods of composting, aerobic methods required more moisture than anaerobic ones. The maximum content of nutrients in compost, i.e. N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were recorded in ‘Nagpur’ and ‘Middle aeration’ (Ma) composting methods over others, whereas content of these nutrients were very less in ‘Nadep’ and ‘Local’ composting methods. The value of pH and EC was higher in the anaerobic composting methods than aerobic ones. The maximum content of ash and higher production of compost in ‘Nadep’ composting method is associated with the content of 40% soil with wheat straw. Thus, recycling of wheat straw by composting is becoming an acceptable practice for converting these organic complex materials into useful soil amendments.
Physio-chemical properties of compost, Quality of compost, Methods of composting, Wheat straw compost
