Comparative Evaluation of Compost Quality, Process Convenience and Cost under Different Composting Methods to assess their Large Scale Adoptability Potential as also Complemented by Compost Quality Index

Organic soil management has become the pressing need today for reversing the cycle of soil degradation and thereby putting a step forward towards soil and crop sustainability. At the same time sustainability has been far fetched even after application of organic soil inputs over a period of years. Practical experience has indicated three regulating avenues in the way of achieving the above set target i.e., i) quality of soil input ii) quantity of application and iii) unit cost. Hence, an effective composting method, which enables the production of good quality compost at an economical cost, can only meet the criteria for sustainable organic soil management The present study at Maud tea estate (Maud T.E.) in Assam, India under FAO-CFC-TBI Project, 2008-2011; was aimed at comparative evaluation of different available and practiced composting methods viz. Vermi, Indigenous, Biodynamic and Novcom composting in terms of their end product/ compost quality as well as respective cost. Study revealed that comparable values were obtained for all types of compost in terms of physical properties, organic carbon, C:N ratio, stability, maturity and phytotoxicity status. However, compost produced under Novcom composting method showed better results in terms of total NPK content (i.e. nutritional content) and microbial population, which being in the order of 10 16 c.f.u. was significantly higher than the values obtained for rest other types of studied compost. Compost Quality Index (CQI) was formulated (using four specific compost quality parameters viz. total nutrient content, C/N ratio, microbial potential and germination percent) to classify the quality of different types of compost as good, moderate, poor etc. for easy understanding at the users' level. Study of convenience factor and cost of production also indicated comparatively higher potential of Novcom composting method.

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