title: Composting of cow dung and crop residues using termite mounds as bulking agent.
abstract: The present study reports the suitability of termite mounds as a bulking agent for composting with crop residues and cow dung in pit method. Use of 50 kg termite mound with the crop residues (stover of ground nut: 361.65 kg; soybean: 354.59 kg; potato: 357.67 kg and mustard: 373.19 kg) and cow dung (84.90 kg) formed a good quality compost within 70 days of composting having nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as 20.19, 3.78 and 32.77 g kg(-1) respectively with a bulk density of 0.85 g cm(-3). Other physico-chemical and germination parameters of the compost were within Indian standard, which had been confirmed by the application of multivariate analysis of variance and multivariate contrast analysis. Principal component analysis was applied in order to gain insight into the characteristic variables. Four composting treatments formed two different groups when hierarchical cluster analysis was applied.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, Nadia, West Bengal, India; Upper Assam Advisory Centre, Tea Research Association, Dikom-786101, Assam, India. Electronic address: tanmay.karak@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tanmoy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karak
authors.affiliation: Upper Assam Advisory Centre, Tea Research Association, Dikom-786101, Assam, India.
authors.forename: Indira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sonar
authors.affiliation: Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India.
authors.forename: Ranjit K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Dibrugarh Polytechnic, Lahowal, Dibrugarh-786010, Assam, India.
authors.forename: Sampa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Upper Assam Advisory Centre, Tea Research Association, Dikom-786101, Assam, India.
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Boruah
authors.affiliation: Upper Assam Advisory Centre, Tea Research Association, Dikom-786101, Assam, India.
authors.forename: Amrit K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur-741252, Nadia, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Dilip K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D031021:Anacardium / Q000254:growth & development; D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D002417:Cattle; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000737:chemistry*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D018525:Germination; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D020049:Isoptera / Q000737:chemistry*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013025:Glycine max / Q000254:growth & development; D013696:Temperature; D014866:Waste Products
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D014866:Waste Products; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Co-composting; Compost maturity; Crop residues; Multivariate analysis of variance; Termite mound