Significant impact on the growth of Solanum lycopersicum in Microbially augmented organic waste

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to convert organic and tea waste to organic soil cond conditioners and achieve a 68% reduction in landfilling and illegal dumping of organic waste. The tea was mixed at an incremental ratio of 10% with the organic waste, and the groups were designated as T0-T100 groups, indicating 0% of tea waste and 100% of organic waste in T0 group and 100% of tea waste, and 0% of organic waste in T100 group. The impact of this soil conditioner was later studied on the growth of the Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) plant for twenty-one weeks along with the augmentation of waste sludge from the yeast manufacturing unit. Microbial examination, and other physicochemical parameters like pH, temperature, organic carbon, C/N ratio, moisture, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and humidity of the compost were studied. A visual color change indicated the compost maturity for further application. The quality of the soil was analyzed in both pre-compost and post-compost applications. The electrical conductivity of the soil was 3.0 mho with 8.3 pH, 0.84 % organic matter, phosphorous 1.0 mg/kg, and potassium 225 mg/kg with a saturation level of 40%. There was an inverse relation between organic waste and organic matter with the highest percentage of organic matter in the T0 group. Maximum nitrogen content (9.07%), the highest levels of phosphorous (0.7%), and potassium (2.3%) were recorded in the aerobic T0 group. The highest amount of organic carbon (78.23%), maximum CEC (109.09 meq/100g) was found in the aerobic T100 group. The best vegetative post-application growth of tomato plants, flowering, and fruiting was observed in the T60 group. Taken together with our findings, it can be concluded that the organic compost boosted the soil fertility by up to 70% which positively affected the growth of tomato plants.