Evaluation of different methods of composting for effective utilization of pressmud

Abstract

Sugarcane pressmud is one of the important agro-industrial wastes available in India as well as Karnataka. About 2.736 million tones of pressmud is produced annually, which can serve as a vast store house of macro and micro nutrients apart from causing environmental pollution in the dumping yards of the sugar factories. An attempt is made in this study to evaluate different methods of composting with or without microbial culture. Results of this study indicates that among the different methods of composting studied NADEP method of composting with inoculants and enrichment has recorded significantly superior nutrient composition of 1.50±0.19, 1.00±0.91 and 0.83±0.05 percent nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as compared to pit method of composting without any inoculation or enrichment. NADEP method was closely followed by Japan method of composting with inoculation and enrichment.