Enrichment of the Waste Effluents of Handmade Paper Industry for Biofertilizer Use in Green Chili Plants

Abstract

Effluents pose a great concern for each and every industry including the paper mills. The effluents of papermaking industry need attention due to their dark colors and alkaline nature which on disposal may destroy the biodiversity and aesthetic value of any water body. Due to the non-woody raw materials with minimum chemicals, effluents of handmade paper industry are rich in organic matter and less toxic and less harmful compared to the conventional paper mills. Therefore, the present study was taken up with an aim to utilize effluents of handmade papermaking from cow dung as liquid biofertilizers. For this, the effluent was enriched with selected Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) and then used to study its plant growth promoting traits with the seeds of NU1919 variety in Green chilli (Capsicum frutescens) plants using four treatments in triplicates with the Random Block Design. The results of plant growth promotion (viz. number of fruits per plant, average pedicel, average fruit length, fruit yield per plant and average plant height) were found to be best in Set D where a consortium of Azotobacter sp and Enterobacter sps was used along with un-autoclaved effluent (RL). However, average girth and average fruit weight (fresh and dry weight) were maximum in Set B where Azotobacter and Bacillus megaterium were used for modifying RL. On analysis of biochemical attributes of chilli harvest, Vitamin A was found to be maximum in the case of Set A where RL (as such) was used as a biofertilizer, whereas, Vitamin C was found to be almost equal in Set A (167.79 mg/100gm) and Set D (167.30 mg/100gm). The Set C (Bacillus + Azotobacter) showed maximum capsaicinoid content (67,793.18 SHU). Thus the handmade paper industry effluents have been found to be suitable for their biofertilizer use in cultivation of chilli (Capsicum frutescence) plants.