Farm Waste Recycling Using Consortium of Lignocellulolytic fungi- A Farmers Participatory Approach

Abstract

The present study was aimed to demonstrate the efficacy of a microbial consortium developed for recycling agro-residues generated in farmer’s level. A consortium of four lignocellulolytic fungi for rapid and uniform decomposition namely; Pleurotus sps, Phaenerochaete chrysosporium, Aspergillums awamori and Trichoderma viridae were taken. All the fungi were developed at the Department of Agricultural Microbiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka. A total of 2165 farmers participated from 12 Grampanchayats of Naragund taluk, Karnataka. In about 87 per cent of the cases studied the microbial consortium was very effective and the C: N ratio of the compost was 23: 1. Among the different crop residues the initial C:N ratio of 110: 1 and  128:1 while its  decomposed product had C:N in the ratio of 23-26: 1 and 30-34: 1 for maize and cotton respectively.  In case of layers of 8-9 inches of mixed crop the decomposition rate was so high that within 12 weeks 100 per cent substrate wast decomposed. It could be concluded that mixed crop residues in layers of20-24 cm when treated with compost cultures could produce a very good quality compost in less than 12 weeks which otherwise takes about  6-8 months  for a satisfactory product to be obtained without the use of compost culture.