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Insights into the bioconversion of Ageratum conyzoides into a nutrient-rich compost and its toxicity assessment: nutritional and quality assessment through instrumental analysis

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Abstract

Ageratum conyzoides is an intrusive terrestrial waste spread worldwide and adversely impacting neighboring cultivated crops by replacing them. This study aims in producing a value-added and non-toxic product by biologically treating the plant blended with inoculum and bulking agent using a rotary drum composter (RDC). The composter was competent in increasing nutritional parameters such as nitrogen (50.1%), total phosphorous (18.4%), and potassium (26.1%) while decreasing lignin (42.4%), hemicellulose (39.1%), and cellulose (47.1%) in the final day (20th day) compared to the initial day. The spectroscopic analysis showed a significant increase in nutrients, decrease in cellulose content, and functional group variations in the final compost. The thermal and micrographic studies reveal the level of degradation. The phytotoxicity study showed a significant increase in germination index percentage (40.7%), root length (72.6%), shoot length (53.7%), and biomass (47.5%) in Vigna radiata and root length (67.2%) and biomass (46.2%) in Allium cepa exposed to final compost extract compared to A. conyzoides extract of same concentrations, whereas the cyto-genotoxicity assay showed a substantial increase in mitotic index and reduction in aberrant cell percentages in A. cepa root tips exposed to final compost extract compared to A. conyzoides extract. The Pearson correlation coefficient study revealed substantial correlation coefficients between biodegradation and nutritional factors. As a result, the A. conyzoides compost is safe for the environment and could be used as a soil conditioner in crop cultivation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Department of Civil Engineering, Central Instrumentation Facility, and Centre for the Environment at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India, for providing workspace and carrying out PXRD, FESEM, TGA/DTA, and FTIR analysis. The authors are very much grateful to anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments that helped in improving the quality of the manuscript substantially.

Funding

The authors recognize the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, for financial support (File No. DST/TDT/WMT/2017/153 (G)).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, India

    Krishna Chaitanya Maturi, Izharul Haq & Ajay S. Kalamdhad

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  1. Krishna Chaitanya Maturi
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  2. Izharul Haq
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  3. Ajay S. Kalamdhad
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Contributions

KCM: data curation, conceptualization, writing-original draft, methodology, software

IH: methodology, writing—review and editing

ASK: supervision, conceptualization, writing—review and editing

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Correspondence to Krishna Chaitanya Maturi.

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Highlights

• Bioconversion of toxic terrestrial weed into a nutrient-rich compost.

• The nitrogen content was increased by 50.1% in the 20 days of composting.

• FTIR analysis shown a rise in ratio of aromatic to aliphatic compounds.

• Mass reductions and substrate deformations were assessed by TGA and FESEM analysis.

• Biocomposting lead to reduction of phytotoxicity and cyto-genotoxicity.

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Maturi, K.C., Haq, I. & Kalamdhad, A.S. Insights into the bioconversion of Ageratum conyzoides into a nutrient-rich compost and its toxicity assessment: nutritional and quality assessment through instrumental analysis. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 14, 3879–3895 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-02532-y

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