Oil palm frond : Value-adding through production of biocompost with fungal inoculation

• Main Author: Fadzilah Kalamahidan
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: SB183-317 Field crops Including cereals, forage crops, grasses, legumes, root crops, sugar plants, textile plants, alkaloidal plants, medicinal plants
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38934/1/24%20PAGES.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38934/3/FULLTEXT..pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/38934/

This investigation highlights the chemical, physical and biological properties of oil palm frond (OPF) observed during 14 weeks of composting period. Composting is a controlled biological decomposition process, which converts organic wastes into humus-like materials. Two white rot fungi species, Trametes versicolor and Schizophyllum commune were introduced as inoculants for composting process. The oil palm fronds (OPF) were composted for 14 weeks, with four treatments, i) control (untreated OPF), ii) OPF treated with T. versicolor, iii) OPF treated with S. commune, iv) OPF treated with both T. versicolor and S. commune, with four replications. During composting period, eight genera of fungi, namely Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Absidia, Geotrichum, Trametes, Schizophyllum, Syncephalastrum and Beauveria species were isolated and identified from composted OPF. Resulted compost was brown in colour with homogeneous appearance, and no unpleasant odour was detected. Maturity of composted OPF was evaluated from the germination index (GI) of mung bean (Vigna radiata) and mustard (Brassica chinensis) seeds, and the measurement of phenolic contents. For germination test in extract of compost, the highest GI was observed in co-inoculation of T. versicolor and S. commune with value of 114, and in single inoculation of T. versicolor with GI of 124, for mung bean and mustard seeds, respectively. In germination test with added soil, the highest percentage of seed germination was recorded in OPF inoculated with T. versicolor for mung bean (97.8%), and OPF inoculated with S. commune for mustard (98.9%), respectively. At the end of composting, the maximum reduction in phenolic content was recorded in OPF co-inoculated with T. versicolor and S. commune with 76.5%. In this study, C/N ratio and percentage volume reduction became the most important parameters to be monitored. Inoculation with S. commune achieved the acceptable C/N ratio of 63.2 at the end of composting period. Compared to other treatments, single inoculation of S. commune indicated higher percentage of volume reduction with a value of 62.8%. Single inoculation of S. commune, therefore, provides a suitable medium for composting of OPF.