Effect of Initial C: N Ratio on Co Composting of Low Nitrogen Cereal Residues on Quality and Quantity of Compost

Availability and production of organic sources of nutrients on farm is the major drawback in adopting organic farming. Hence, an experiment was conducted to produce quality compost by utilizing maize stalks (a organic residue having low initial C: N ratio) and different nitrogen rich materials viz., Glyricidia leaves, cow urine and urea as a source of nitrogen to optimize initial C: N ratio for effective composting of maize residues. Optimizing initial C: N ratio to 30: 1 or 40: 1 found effective with respect to various physical and chemical properties of compost at the end of composting. Higher per cent reduction in both volume weight (51.3%) and (61.13%) was observed when Glyricidia leaves alone were composted and also with the treatment involving optimizing initial C: N ratio of the composting substrate to 30: 1 by using Glyricidia leaves, respecively. The compost prepared out of cow dung alone registered higher total nitrogen (0.35%) but, the availability was lower (0.30). Whereas, the compost prepared by using Glyricidia leaves alone registered significantly higher available nitrogen (0.34%) and found on par withthe treatment involving optimizing initial C: N ratio to 30: 1 by using Glyricidia leaves. Optimizing initial C: N ratio of the composting substrate by using Glyricidia leaves as a source of nitrogen found most efficient than using cow urine and urea.