Assessment of Household Waste, Poultry Manure and Cowdung in Rice Cultivation

Abstract

The pot experiment was carried out to quantify the effect of different organic wastes in rice yield and to determine the effect on soil fertility. The experiment was laid down in a complete randomized design taking 11 treatments with three replicates. The applied treatments were; (1) Control, (2) Recommended doses of NPK, (3) HW 10%, (4) HW 20%, (5) HW 30%, (6) PM 10%, (7) PM 20%, (8) PM: 30%, (9) CD 10%, (10) CD 20% and (11) CD 30%. Application of 30% household waste produced the significantly higher grain yield (58.94 g pot-1) even over the recommended doses of N, P and K (p≤0.05). The maximum sustainable yield index (SYI) was found 0.91 when 10% poultry manure and 30% cow dung were applied. But the SYI was 0.67 when 30% HW was applied. However, before approaching to a conclusion on SYI, it demands a long time field experiment using these organic wastes. Nutrient concentrations in rice crop/grains were not affected by the application of organic wastes, except P content in grain. The concentrations of N, P and K in rice grain varied 1.79 - 2.12, 0.14 - 0.21, and 1.44-1.99%, respectively. A significant nonlinear relationship was found between grain yield and N, P and K uptake individually. Post harvest chemical analysis of pot soil indicated that OM, N and P contents in soils significantly increased over the control which indicated the enhancement of soil fertility with the application of different organic wastes. The highest application rates of organic wastes attributed to maximum accumulation of organic matter and nitrogen in soil. Keywords: Household waste; poultry manure; cowdung; rice; nutrient uptake DOI: 10.3329/agric.v8i2.7585 The Agriculturists 8(2): 117-125 (2010)