Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Hutchinson and Richards ( 1921 ) at Rothamsted Experiment Station in U.K. Later
Howard and Wad ( 1931 ) did considerable work and developed a systematized con-
cept of compost process occurred during the period of 1920-1930 in India. They
observed that best compost was prepared when crop residues including different
types of plant materials are layered one over the other and are turned twice during
composting creating aerobic conditions. The method known as “Indore method of
composting” named after the work place of Howard, after some modification in the
process it was widely accepted in India and South Africa and found suitable for the
decomposition of sisal wastes, wastes of tea, coffee, rubber coconut and oil palms.
Frequent turning helped to maintain aerobic conditions for rapid decomposition and
thus shortening the composting period (Vimal and Talashilkar 1986 ).
The history and development in composting has been reviewed by Gaur ( 1982 ).
The “Bangalore method” of composting for the treatment of night soil was devel-
oped by Acharya ( 1939 ). Earlier, Waksman et al. ( 1939a , b , c ) carried out basic
research on aerobic decomposition of vegetable residues and animal wastes. They
investigated the influence of temperature on the rate of decomposition and the role
of individual group of microorganisms and the effect of mixed cultures as compared
with that of pure culture in the decomposition of substrates. Earlier, Rodale ( 1948 )
propagated the concept of organic methods of farming in United States. Subsequent
development such as sheet composting, shredding of materials for rapid decomposi-
tion, digester composting, addition of the rock phosphate plus sulfur for enhancing
the composting process, and role of different species of earthworm in the humifica-
tion of straw has also been well documented (Gaur 1982 ).
A systematic research on the composting and recycling is still in progress in India
and lot of work has been carried out in the past on shortening the length of time or
reducing the period of composting of agro residues such as wheat straw, rice straw
and other residues or dry leaves etc., the inoculation of nitrogen fixing bacteria in
the process of composting and after maturation have been proved significant in the
area of compost science and utilization (Gangwar and Pathak 1959 ; Seal and Eggins
1976 ; Dalzell 1979 ; Yadav et al. 1982 ; Gaur et al. 1982 ; Crawford 1983 ; Gaur et al.
1984 ; Mahmood et al. 1985 ; Negi 1985 ; Vimal and Talashilkar 1986 ; Gaur 1987 ,
1990 ; Joeggensen and Meyer 1990 ). Recently, Pepe et al. ( 2013 ) observed microbial
diversity concerning the composition and dynamics of the microflora during the com-
posting of municipal solid wastes, agro-industrial residue/waste or organic material.
There are several diverse group of N 2 fixing: ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and
nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) bearing pectinolytic, amylolytic and aerobic cellu-
lolytic microorganisms. Some uncommon N 2 fixing genera i.e., Stenotrophomonas,
Xanthomonas, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Alcaligenes, Achromobacter, Caulobacter
etc. employed as improver of quality of compost (Partanen et al. 2010 ).
Recent studies on the progress of composting include detail investigations on the
factors affecting the process of biodegradation and applications of municipal waste
for composting (Itävaara et al. 2002 ; Alvarez et al. 2009 ; Kumar 2011 ; Gautam
et al. 2012 ; Muktadirul et al. 2013 ). Earlier, Thambirajah ( 1991 ) studied the effect
of various factors affecting the process of composting i.e., substrate, microorgan-
isms, temperature, pH, cellulose, lignin and ash and chemicals like phosphorus,
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