Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
11.3
Procedure for Making Compost
from Oil Palm EFB and Frond
A basic consideration of the composting system can aid fabricate a soaring class
product. The microbes that are involved in composting have a small number of
indispensable necessities that need to be met. Oxygen, moisture and the correct
foodstuff and heat merge to produce a high-quality composting atmosphere.
11.3.1
Composting Process
Oil palm empty fruit bunches as well as frond are used for making compost. Now-a-
days, usage of EFB mulching faces various limitations, the alternative use of com-
posting EFB may therefore be useful. A preliminary study achieved a weight reduc-
tion of about 40 % but a loss of about half the nutrient value of fresh EFB. Compos-
ing of fresh EFB in 3-5 t heaps for a period of 8-10 months in the oven, indicated
that the nutrient concentrations and pH generally increased but C/N ratio, tempera-
ture, weight and volume decreased with time (Lim
1989
). Composting should be
carried out from home gardening to advanced technology by utilizing centralized
plants (Crowe et al.
2002
). Complete composting process rely on biodegradable
waste, economic implementation, supporting workers and required period along
with desired quantity of waste product (Evans
2001
). The conversion of organic
residues of plant and animal into manure through the activities of several bacteria,
actinobacteria and fungi are the basic principle of composting process (Bharadwaj
1995
) ultimately end product is heavy in humus and providing more plant nutrients,
whereas carbon dioxide, water and heat are the by-products of composting process
(Abbasi and Ramasamy
1999
). Initially, microorganisms decompose the substrate,
breaking down it to from highly complicated form to intermediate and finally into
very much useful product (Epstein
1997
; Ipek et al.
2002
). However, C and N are
transferred through the activities of various microbes and at the end stable organic
matter formed which is chemically near to humic substances (Pare et al.
1999
).
These transformation mostly depends on the level of availability of substrates to
make it complete composting process (Marche et al.
2003
). Production of chemi-
cally stabilized composted material are made up by the broken remaining of biode-
gradable organic compounds.
11.3.1.1
Compost from Oil Palm EFB and Frond
Composting is widely used to produce organic fertilizer from EFB and frond. The
EFB, POME, frond and trunk are some of oil palm by products. Among them, aver-
age macro and secondary nutrient contents in EFB were noted as N 0.8 %, P 0.1 %,
K 2.5 % and Mg 0.2 % on a dry weight basis (Gurmit et al.
1981
). Furthermore,
Alam et al. (
2005
) reported that EFB is not only a source of nutrients but also a
