Effects Of Agricultural Wastes Research Articles

A review on cement concrete strength incorporated with agricultural waste

The agricultural sector accounts for over 58% of the total GDP of India. Nearly 16% of India's GDP comes from this industry (GDP). India's agriculture industry has flourished because of the country's abundant arable land and variety of suitable growing environments. Studies show that agricultural waste material, when properly processed, possesses the pozzolanic properties which makes them suitable to be utilized as a partial substitute of cement content by weight in the production of cement concrete. In the present study, the availability and effect of agricultural wastes on the strength of cement concrete has been discussed and it was found that partial substitution of agricultural waste materials such as sugarcane bagasse ash, rice husk ash and palm oil fuel ash with cement content can reduce annual global consumption of cement by approximately 121 million tons, while maintaining the desirable properties of cement concrete.

Response surface optimization and effects of agricultural wastes on total petroleum hydrocarbon degradation

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Goat manure (GM) and Palm oil mill effluent (POME) on total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) degradation. Microbial respiration rates (CO2 evolution) were investigated. TPHs degradation rate constants were estimated using the first-order kinetics model. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to investigate the surface morphologies and functional groups in GM and POME. The CO2 evolution rates in TPH contaminated soil treated with GM (TPHCS-GM), TPH contaminated soil treated with POME (TPHCS-POME), and the untreated TPH contaminated soil (UTPHCS) were 497 mg/g, 440 mg/g, and 296 mg/g, respectively. TPHCS-GM showed higher TPH degradation rate with corresponding lower half-lives. Results from the physiochemical characterization indicated that GM performed better in restoring the scarce nutrient in the TPH contaminated soil. 58% and 39% of TPH were degraded at pH 8 and 4 in TPHCS-GM and TPHCS-POME, respectively. The response surface optimization process indicated the accuracy of the quadratic model (R2 value of 0.9891) in predicting TPH degradation (76.59%) with optimum independence variables of initial TPH concentration (300 g/L) and pH (6). The results obtained from this work showed the positive prospects of GM and POME as organic nutrients in TPH contaminated soil.

Effects of agricultural wastes on the hydraulic properties of a loamy sand cropland in Turkey

This study was carried out to determine the proper amount of application for manure (M), hazelnut husk (Corylus avellane L.) (HH), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) (TO) and tea (Camellia Sinensis (L.)) (TE) wastes based on hydraulic property improvement of a loamy sand cropland in Turkey. The effects of agricultural wastes on field capacity (FC), permanent wilting point (PWP), available water content (AWC), relative saturation (RS) and initial infiltration rate (IR) were determined for a loamy sand soil 7 months after agricultural wastes were incorporated to 15 cm soil depth at four different rates (0, 2%, 4% and 6%, weight:weight) in a randomized plot design experiment with three replicates. While increases in soil OM content for the M application rates were generally lower, TE and HH treatments including high organic carbon (OC) contents resulted in high soil organic matter (OM) increases. Organic wastes generally increased the values of soil hydraulic properties, with increased aggregate stability (AS) and total porosity (F) and reduced bulk density (BD). The highest AS and F values were obtained with 6% HH and 6% TE applications, respectively. Due to different mineralization rates of the organic wastes attributable to their carbon: nitrogen (C:N) ratios, the same application rate had different effects on the soil’s hydraulic properties. Manure, having the lowest C:N ratio, generally had a lower effect on AS and BD. Increased IR due to increases in AS and F by the agricultural waste treatment, especially at 4 and 6% HH, reduced the AW content to 15 cm compared with 2% HH. This indicates that the significant application of higher C:N ratio wastes is not suitable in terms of AW, due to significant improvement of IR. While the highest FC (17.3%) and AWC (10.7%) values were found in the 6% TE application, the highest PWP (7.2%) and IR (333.4 cm h−1) were in the 6% TO and 6% HH applications, respectively. To improve soil physical and hydraulic properties, 6% TO and M, 4% TE and 2% HH applications are suggested for loamy sand cropland.

Effects of agricultural waste-based conditioner on ultrasonic-aided activated sludge dewatering

The effects of agricultural wastes on ultrasonic-aided activated sludge dewaterability were investigated in this study.

English

The effect of agricultural wastes and a botanical on root knot nematode (Meloidogyne spp) on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) was investigated in pot experiment. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with five treatments each replicated five times. The treatments included: sawdust, oil palm sludge, cassava peels, bitter leaf powder, carbofuran plus untreated control. All the treatments except oil palm sludge and nematicide were applied at the rate of 20 g each. Oil palm sludge was applied at the rate of 20 ml while the nematicide at 3.0 g ai per plant. The plants were inoculated with 2000 nematode eggs (Meloidogyne spp.) three weeks after emergence. Treatments and fertilizer were applied one and three weeks after inoculation respectively. Eight weeks after treatment application, the experiment was terminated and the following collected; fresh and dry shoot weight, plant height, number of leaves, number of galls, population of nematode eggs in the roots and nematode population in the soil. Results obtained indicated non-significant difference between the treatments in the parameters recorded except plants treated with bitter leaf and nematicide in some cases. Generally, results from bitter leaf were better and compared favourably with the nematicide treated plants. Key words: Agricultural wastes, Meloidogyne spp, Abelmoschus esculentus

Temporal variations in organic carbon, soil reactivity and aggregate stability in soils of contrasting cropping history

We studied the effect of incorporating agricultural wastes on soil aggregate stability (AS), organic carbon (OC), and soil reactivity (pH) of similarly textured soils under different managements (vegetable, (VG) and Orchard (OR) farming), in South-eastern Nigeria. The agricultural wastes were cow dung (CD,) cassava peels (CP), and kola nut pods (KP). The air dried agricultural wastes were crushed and sieved using a 2 mm wire mesh and decomposed under shade for two weeks. The decomposed amendments were applied in combination (CD+CP, CD+KP), or alone (KP, CP, CD) at the rates of 100 and 200 Mg/ha. Samples for physical and chemical analysis were collected in triplicate after two and four weeks of incubation and analyzed for selected physiochemical properties. Results show that combinations of wastes of plant and animal origin (CD+CP or CD+KP) enhanced the soil properties better than their single applications. The immediate effect of agricultural wastes in improving the pH (20-40 or 30-50%, respectively, for vegetable and orchard farm management) gave corresponding increases in organic carbon and soil aggregate stability and suggested that decomposition of agricultural wastes prior to incorporation is necessary to sustain vegetable or orchard farming. Significant positive correlation coefficients of 0.893 and 0.911 for the first and second sampling times indicated that organic carbon accounted for 79.7 and 83% of the soil aggregate stability at both periods. For the vegetable farm, 70% of soil aggregate stability depended on the level of organic carbon while about 87% of soil aggregate stability is accounted for in the Orchard farm by organic carbon. Key words: Agricultural wastes, management history, decomposition, aggregate stability, organic carbon.