EVALUATION OF NUTRIENT CONTENT OF COMPOSTS MADE FROM WATER HYACINTH, KITCHEN WASTE AND MANURES

Abstract

Though composts are prepared with different agricultural and non-agricultural materials, information on preparation of compost with water hyacinth is limited. An experiment was conducted at the Germplasm Centre of Agrotechnology Discipline of Khulna University of Bangladesh during January to March 2014 to evaluate the nutrient content of composts made from water hyacinth (WH), kitchen waste (KW), cow dung (CD), farmyard manure (FYM), and poultry litter (PL). The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 15 treatments viz. WH, KW, CD, FYM, PL, WH:KW (1:1), WH:CD (1:1), WH:FYM (1:1), WH:PL (1:1), KW:CD (1:1), KW:FYM (1:1), KW:PL (1:1), CD:FYM (1:1), CD:PL (1:1), and FYM:PL (1:1) and three replications. The prepared composts were dark brown to black with earthy smell and large-textured. Cow dung in combination with farmyard manure or poultry litter resulted highest content of total N, S, Zn, and B and farmyard manure and poultry litter had highest content of total P. Again, poultry litter with water hyacinth estimated highest total K. Combination of water hyacinth with farmyard manure had the highest Ca and Mg content. Therefore, combination of composting materials (CD, PL, FYM, WH) resulted better nutrient content of composts rather than using alone. The results suggest use of water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic weed, as a composting material that can improve our soil health.