Vegetos

Abstract

Compost was prepared from source segregated kitchen waste including both raw food waste with vegetable peelings and cooked food waste i.e. the leftover food using mechanical cum biological composting having C:N 26.54 (SD 0.51). To study the effect of compost, trials were done on wheat in green house (0- 4months). Soil with no added chemical fertilizer or compost was used as control and compared with soil containing 1/3 rd compost. The addition of compost increased the organic matter (1.21% to 10.27%) and moisture content (4.23% to 5.88%) however no major change was observed in pH (8.04 to 8.4). The results showed that the soil containing 1/3 rd compost had potentially increased the shoot length upto 63% and plant biomass upto 70% as compared to the control. There was a considerable increase in root length upto 40%. Kitchen waste generated from household, restaurants, mess etccan be recycled into compost which can be used as soil amending agent which can help increase the plant growth and biomass to improve plant health and add to the agronomic value.