Utilization of Pressmud Waste as a Carrier for Enhancing Agronomic Traits of Finger Millet

Abstract

AbstractAs India is the second‐largest producer of sugarcane in the world, a huge amount of biodegradable by‐product waste, pressmud, is produced every year, and is a promising source of nutrients. Here, an attempt is made to utilize pressmud as carrier for bioinoculants for enhancing crop productivity. The field experiments are set up on finger millet crop using Aspergillus niger (K7) as fungal inoculant and pressmud as carrier. Four treatment combinations, viz., control, K7 strain, pressmud, and K7 strain+pressmud, in soil are studied. The results indicate that the soil nutrients such as N, P, and K increase by 30–50% after the experiment. The pressmud supports up to 5 × 106 fungal spores and the inoculum is viable until the end of 6 months. Growth and yield parameters are influenced positively and result in better height and weight of plants, a higher number of fingers, and improved P uptake. The combination of A. niger (K7) and pressmud is found to be the best. Shoot and root lengths increase by 54% and 96%, respectively, at the time of harvest over control. Number of fingers and weight of grains/plant increase by 77% and 70%, respectively, at 130 days after sowing. It can be concluded that the use of pressmud with microbial inoculant may be an economically viable technology in organic farming and also in its disposal.