Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The compost prepared by improved application of agrochemicals enhance the
productivity of agricultural crop (Tillman et al.
2002
). From the history, Raychaud-
hary (
1972
) stated that it is possible to increase the soil fertility of large acreages of
Indian soils substantially and rapidly through the use of commercial fertilizers. But,
addition of plant nutrients to the soil thorough the application of commercial fertil-
izers not only make for better yield from the crops receiving them but when carried
out in conjunction with fertility maintaining practices leads to more or less increase
in the fertility status. Bid et al. (
1974
) studied the effect of different forms of nitrog-
enous and phosphoric fertilizers on the yield of tomato and concluded that ammo-
nium sulfate gave highest yield when averaged over the phosphoric sources, while
treatment with ammonium bicarbonate in combination with single superphosphate
gave significantly the lowest yield than those of others and modified the technique
for increase the yield of crop. However, Kulkarni and Nagaraj (
1988
) observed in-
crease in the nitrogen contents of wheat straw occurred due to the addition of bacte-
rial suspension and due to the partial role of nitrogen fixation by bacteria. Similarly,
in the second treatment when fungi and bacteria were inoculated with straw there
was an absolute increase in the nitrogen content of straw, i.e., 26 % over control and
16 % over previous treatment (bacterial suspension). Gaur et al. (
1980
) described
the enrichment of compost through addition of chemical fertilizers (Nitrogen and
Phosphorus) as well as through action and inoculation of fungi. Earlier, Banagar
et al. (
1989
) studied the preparation of nitrogen and phosphorus enriched paddy
straw compost and its effect on the yield and nutrient uptake of wheat.
Enriched organic manure is possible to obtain in short time. Losses occurring in
composting are avoided and the total quantities of organic matter and nitrogen taken
initially are converted and utilized. The decomposition in the presence of adequate
nitrogen incorporated did not cause any adverse effect. The sufficient nitrogen in
excess of microbial requirement is liberated for optimal growth of crops (Campbell
et al.
1995
; Liu et al.
2010
; Jacobsen et al.
2012
). Variations in the preparations of
this enriched manures include incorporation of more nitrogen to obtain concen-
trated manures containing 5 to 7 % nitrogen and it supplementing this with super-
phosphate and potassium sulfate to get mixed with organic fertilizers of any desired
grade to suit specific requirement of soil or crop (Burnham
2011
).
12.6
Factors Affecting Decomposition of Waste
and Compost Process
The composting is based on the decomposition and is a part of natural life cycle that
is caused by microorganisms. The factors influence the quality of compost have
been described.
12.6.1
pH
The pH greatly influence composting and affects the microbial community level dur-
ing composting (Lei and Vandergheynst
2000
). Different agro-composting residue
