Importance of Compost Quality Towards Effective Organic Soil Management: A Case Study under FAO-CFC-TBI Project at Maud Tea Estate, Assam, India

Abstract

Abstract

In today’s agriculture, there has been a growing conviction that organic soil amendment is the best option available to restore and enhance soil potential towards restricting the continuous decline of productivity. The present study under FAO-CFC-TBI project at Maud Tea Estate was aimed to evaluate the role of compost quality towards effective soil management. On-farm compost was produced under biodynamic, vermi, indigenous and Novcom composting method using similar raw materials and their quality was evaluated as per standard methodology. Comparative analysis of compost quality parameters showed that total nutrient content in terms of total NPK was highest in case of Novcom compost followed by biodynamic compost. However, microbial population, especially if self-generated, is the governing criterion for compost quality and was found to be the highest (in order of 10¹⁶ and at least 10³ to 10⁴ times higher than others) in Novcom compost. Overall quality of Novcom compost was considerably higher than others as also indicated by its compost quality index (CQI). Soil quality development in terms of soil fertility and biological properties was documented post-compost application under all the treatments. SQI was highest in case of Novcom compost applied plots (49.64) followed by indigenous (33.03), vermi (29.70) and biodynamic (27.49) compost applied plots. The findings indicated that compost quality played an influential role towards soil quality development especially in terms of soil biological properties, which in turn could favorably influence the crop productivity.

Keywords: Novcom compost, compost quality index, acid tea soil, organic soil management, soil quality index (SQI)

Cite this Article

Seal A, Datta A, Saha S, et al. Importance of compost quality towards effective organic soil management: a case study under FAO-CFC-TBI project at Maud Tea Estate, Assam, India. Research & Reviews: Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology (RRJoAST). 2015; 4(1): 16–26p.