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Characterization of vermicompost of coconut husk mixed with cattle dung: physicochemical properties, SEM, and FT-IR analysis

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Abstract

The present work evaluated the potential of vermicomposting in management of different ratios of coconut husk waste (CH) and cattle dung (CD) viz (waste: CD) 0:100 (CH0), 25:75 (CH25), 50:50 (CH50), 75:25 (CH75), and 100:0 (CH100) using Eisenia fetida for 120 days. The physicochemical properties were analyzed in vermicompost samples taken on the 0 and 120th day. Co-composting with cattle manure improved their acceptability for E. fetida as well as their physicochemical properties. In a 50:50 (CH50) ratio, the lowest mortality and maximum growth in terms of number and biomass of earthworms were observed. The results revealed that during pre-vermicompost to post-vermicompost, nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and sodium increased, whereas in all vermicomposting end products organic carbon and the C:N ratio decreased significantly. Except zinc, all heavy metals decreased significantly (p < 0.05) over initial in all the feed mixtures. Seed germination tests indicated that the mature and non-phytotoxic vermicompost has been formed at the end of the experiment. The Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images of vermicompost demonstrated the excellent maturity of the compost.

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Acknowledgements

All authors are grateful to the DOBES, GNDU for the necessary research facilities.

Funding

AB and FR are financially supported by the Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjab, India, under RUSA 2.0. The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi (India), has also provided financial support to the first author (JQ) in the form of a Doctoral Fellowship to carry out this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India, 143005

    Jahangeer Quadar, Anu Bala Chowdhary, Rahil Dutta, Deachen Angmo, Farhana Rashid, Sharanpreet Singh, Jaswinder Singh & Adarsh Pal Vig

  2. P.G. Department of Zoology, Khalsa College, Amritsar, Punjab, India

    Jaswinder Singh

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  1. Jahangeer Quadar
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  2. Anu Bala Chowdhary
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  7. Jaswinder Singh
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  8. Adarsh Pal Vig
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Contributions

Jahangeer Quadar: conceptualization, visualization, formal analysis, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing. Anu Bala Chowdhary: writing—original draft, conceptualization, visualization. Rahil Dutta: conceptualization, visualization, data curation. Farhana Rashid: formal analysis, funding acquisition. Sharanpreet Singh: data curation, validation. Jaswinder Singh: writing—review and editing, supervision and investigation. Adarsh Pal Vig: supervision, investigation, project administration, conceptualization, methodology.

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Correspondence to Adarsh Pal Vig.

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Jaswinder Singh and Adarsh Pal Vig shared senior and equal authorship.

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Quadar, J., Chowdhary, A.B., Dutta, R. et al. Characterization of vermicompost of coconut husk mixed with cattle dung: physicochemical properties, SEM, and FT-IR analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 87790–87801 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21899-z

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