Composting of organic wastes using newly developed cellulolytic microbial consortium

Experiment under glass house conditions was conducted to see the efficacy of newly developed microbial consortium for composting different organic substrates. During experiment period, in all the treatments, increase in temperature was recorded from the first week of composting. In majority of the substrates temperature increase was recorded upto fourth week of composting, and thereafter a gradual decline was recorded. Within 30 days there was steep increase in the bacterial and fungal population in all the treatments which continued to increase upto 120 days and thereafter a gradual decrease was recorded. While the population of actinomycetes increased in later stage and reached at peak between 120 and 150 days of composting. Test consortium was found significantly superior in reducing the decomposition time of substrates over other treatments. The reduction in composting time over control ranged from 9.65 to 23.36% in different substrates. Vegetable waste decomposed at the fastest rate (48.7 to 59.3 days) while saw dust required maximum time (179.7 to 214.3 days) for decomposition. Reduction in C: N ratio over initial was recorded in all the treatments at maturity while pH of all substrates shifted towards normal. The treatment with test consortium on different substrates recorded numerically higher mineral content over MPKV consortium and uninoculated control. Results indicated that the use of test consortium reduced the overall time required for composting besides producing the nutrient enriched compost product.

• Test microbial consortium accelerated the rate of decomposition of substrates

• Temperature and microbial count of substrates increased from first week of composting

• Maximum reduction in C: N ratio was in substrates treated with test consortium comprised of cellulolytic fungal species

• pH of all substrates shifted towards normal at maturity