Vermicomposting of Spent Mushroom Waste Substrate Waste and Rabbit Manure Using Eudrilus Eugenia for Bio-Compost Chemical Analysis

Yow, Kok Yen (2018) Vermicomposting of Spent Mushroom Waste Substrate Waste and Rabbit Manure Using Eudrilus Eugenia for Bio-Compost Chemical Analysis. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Vermicomposting is a method of composting in which the vermicast is produced through the use of different kind of earthworms. The objective of this research is to determine concentration of macronutrients (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium) in vermicomposts produced through different weight ratio of spent mushroom waste and rabbit manure. It also determines the quality of vermicomposts produced using Eudrilus eugenia The treatments prepared were E1 (800g of spent mushroom waste), E3:D1 (600g of spent mushroom waste and 200g of rabbit dung), E2:D1 (530g of spent mushroom waste and 270g rabbit dung), E1:D1 (400g of spent mushroom waste and 400g of rabbit dung) and E1:D2 (270g of spent mushroom waste and 530g of rabbit dung). Kjedahl method was used to determine the concentration of nitrogen whereas the concentration of carbon was determined by dry ashing method present in the vermicompost. Besides that, the concentration of phosphorus was determined by using the colorimetric method where the colour produced will be evaluated in reference to standard curve. UV-Vis spectrophotometer was used to determine the absorbance of the sample (vermicompost). Moreover, the concentration of the calcium, magnesium and potassium were determined by measuring each of the macronutrients absorbance through Flame AAS. The absorbance was then used to determine the concentration of the macronutrients by comparing it with the pre-prepared calibration curve. Results were obtained by creating bar charts and table through mean ± SD where n=4. In overall, results obtained show that the treatment of E2D1 has superior quality among all the treatment since its C/N ratio is about 20.85, has increment at final vermicompost in the nutrient content (phosphorus, +20.61% ; magnesium, +0.49% ; calcium, 811.13% ; ) However, the potassium content in the treatment of E2D1 has a slightly negative result in which the difference between the initial feedstock and at the final vermicompost is not statistically significant at P>0.05 since the standard error bar overlaps. Therefore, vermicomposting of spent mushroom waste and rabbit manure actually helps to improve the crop yield in plants.