Efficacy of compost made of food wastes with organic amendments for a sustainable and environment friendly agricultural system

Abstract

Organic amendments in composts are found to be an effective solution for the sustenance of the agriculture system, especially in reducing greenhouse gases. The objective of this research was to develop a compost type made with organic/mineral amendments for environment friendly agriculture. This preliminary study reports the quality of the compost made with different organic/mineral amendments, the performance of different compost types with and without amendments, the potential of organic amendments in reducing greenhouse gas emissions for an environmentally friendly agriculture and the best type of co-compost. Food waste was co-composted with banana peels, egg shells, onion peels and papaya peels individually with a 1:1 ratio; and the quality of the mature compost was measured using the physicochemical parameters. Six seedlings of Capsicum annuum were planted in potting mixtures with a 1:1:1 ratio of co-compost, top soil and sand. The positive control experiment was done with food waste compost and the negative control was with no compost. The performance of the six treatments were evaluated by measuring the plant height, the number of leaves in a plant, number of buds, number of pods and the average weight of pods. CO2 emission of the six treatments were measured by absorbing it to calcium hydroxide. The results showed that the co-compost made with banana peels was the best amendment, with better physicochemical characteristics and performance in growth. None of the treatments gave a significant reduction on the emission of carbon dioxide.