Vermicomposting Of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Sludge And Effects Of Vermicompost On Oil Palm Seedling Growth
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Date
2014-09
Authors
Zainal, Bidattul Syirat
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Abstract
The present study is about vermicomposting of palm oil mill effluent (POME) sludge
as a low C/N ratio material and effects of vermicompost on oil palm seedling growth.
Experiment on vermicomposting of low C/N ratio materials alone, without mixing, is
very limited. There are limited literatures that have looked into this matter. The main
objective of this work was to study the feasibility of vermicomposting of the sludge
by varying worm stocking density, namely Eudrilus eugeniae. A review on materials
with low C/N ratio as a substrate in vermicomposting with a proposal to
vermicompost POME sludge was done. POME sludge was then used to prepare
different proportions of worm stocking density with POME sludge mixtures, viz. E0
(POME sludge only), E50 (POME sludge + 0.24 kg-worms/m2) and E100 (POME
sludge + 0.48 kg-worms/m2). Vermicompost and POME sludge compost were then
chemically analyzed for various parameters namely, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN),
C/N ratio, Electrical Conductivity (EC), macro and micronutrients as well as
microbial population. Further experiments on application of vermicompost towards
total number of frond and height of oil palm seedlings have been studied. This study
concluded that vermicompost with worm stocking density of 0.48 kg-worms/m2
gives significantly higher results in terms of nitrogen and potassium concentration, as
well as significantly different in C/N ratio, as compared to POME sludge compost
(control). Vermicompost with stocking density of 0.48 kg-worms/m2 also gives
significantly higher copper content, as compared to POME sludge compost (control).
A higher microbial population also was recorded in vermicompost with stocking
density of 0.48 kg-worms/m2. Meanwhile, the application of vermicompost (VC)
towards oil palm seedlings as plants indicator revealed that there was a significant
difference in terms of P and K content in VC mixed with soil as compared to
chemical fertilizer (CF) mixed with soil (i.e. control). Total number of oil palm frond
in VC mixed soil also was significantly higher as compared to normal compost (NC)
mixed with soil. Overall, this study demonstrated that vermicomposting of POME
sludge as low C/N ratio material is feasible.
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Keywords
Feasibility of vermicomposting of the sludge , by varying worm stocking density