Comparative study on the degradation of sugarcane bagasse and banana stem using vermicomposting by eudrillus eugeniae

• Main Authors: Baharuddin, Afifah, Fauziah, Shahul Hamid, Agamuthu, Pariatamby
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/12888/1/1.Comparative_study_on_the_degradation_of_sugarcane.pdf; http://eprints.um.edu.my/12888/

This study is to test the practicability of vermicomposting of sugarcane bagasse and banana stem using Eudrillus eugeniae (African nightcrawler) and also to determine the rate of degradation of each waste. Fresh sugarcane bagasse (SCB) was mixed with soil at five different ratios namely 1:9, 1:4, 3:7, 2:3 and 1:1. These mixtures were then introduced with ten Eudrillus eugeniae in each container. This procedure was repeated for the banana stem as well. The vermiculture from each treatment were analysed for conductivity, ORP, TDS, C/N ratio, salinity and pH. The results obtained indicated that all mixture of SCB was completely degraded after 42 days wherelse it took 21 days for the complete degradation of banana stem. The fastest degradation was observed for the ratio of 1:9 which was 14 days for SCB and 10 days for banana stem. The degradation rate via vermicomposting was 2.38 x 10-3 kg per day for sugar cane bagasse and 4.76 x 10-3 kg per day for banana stem. This study indicate that banana stem has better degradation properties using Eudrillus eugeniae compared to SCB in the ratio of 1:9. It can be concluded that the best ratio for vermicomposting of both SCB and banana stem was 1:9.