Sugarcane Trash Composting

Sugarcane produces about 10 to 12 tonnes of dry leaves per hectare per crop. The detrashing is done on 5th and 7thmonth during its growth period. This trash contains 28.6%-organic carbon, 0.35 to 0.42% nitrogen, 0.04 to 0.15%  phosphorus, 0.50 to 0.42% potassium. The sugarcane trash incorporation in the soil influences physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. There is a reduction in soil EC, improvement in the water holding capacity, better soil aggregation and thereby improves porosity in the soil. Sugarcane trash incorporation reduces the bulk density of the soil and there is an increase in infiltration rate and decrease in penetration resistance. The direct incorporation of chopped trash increases the availability of nutrients leading to soil fertility. Sugarcane trash can be easily composted by using the fungi like Trichurus, Aspergillus, Penicillium and Trichoderma. Addition of rock phosphate and gypsum facilitates for quicker decomposition.

Sugarcane trash composting

Collection of trash

The detrashed material has to be pooled together and transported to the compost yard. If no compost yard is available to farmer, anyone of the corner area in the sugarcane field itself can be used for making composting. There is no necessity to make a pit for composting. Composting can be done above the soil.

Sugarcane trash is lengthy one. Handling and heaping the trash will be more cumbersome. It is recommended to shred the waste into small particles. This process reduces the volume of material, increases the surface area of the waste. If the waste material contains more surface area, more microorganisms work effectively on the surface and degradation will be faster. Shredder is the ideal instrument to shred all the sugarcane trash. Chop cutter machine can also be used for this purpose. If no machinery is available manual shredding is recommended. Without shredding the composting process will take long time.

Inputs for composting

(a) Microbial consortium

TNAU biomineralizer is the consortium of microorganism recommended for composting all the agro wastes. For one ton of trash, two kg inoculums are recommended. Without the inoculation of microbial consortium, the composting process will take its own time. The alterative source required microorganism for composting is cow dung slurry. But in the cow dung slurry the required population of microorganism for composting is low and they have to compete with other microorganisms present in the cow dung for survival. In TNAU biomineralizer, only the required microorganism meant for composting alone is present with high population. Therefore it is recommended to go for TNAU biomineralizer.

(b) Animal dung

Animal dung or fresh poultry litter can be used as a source of nitrogen to reduce the C:N ratio. For one ton of sugarcane trash 50 kg fresh dung is recommended. The dung can be mixed with 100 litres of water and thoroughly mixed with sugarcane trash. Rock phosphate at 5 kg I ton waste can be added to increase the phosphorus content of the compost.

Making heap formation

After mixing all the inputs with sugarcane trash, heap should be formed with a minimum height of 4 feet. This height is required to generate more heat in the composting process, and the generated heat will be retained long time inside the material.

Turning the compost material

The compost material should be turned periodically once in 15daysto allow more aeration inside the material. In the turning process, bottom layer comes to top and top layer comes to bottom. So that uniform composting will occur.

Moisture control

Throughout the composting period 60% moisture should be maintained. If composting material is allowed to dry, all the established microorganisms get killed and composting process will be terminated. Moisture maintenance is the critical factor for good composting.

Compost maturity

Volume reduction, earthy odor, brownish black colour and reduction in particle size are important parameters to be observed for assessing compost maturity. Once the compost attained the maturity, the compost heap should be disturbed and spread the material for curing. After 24 hrs the composted material can be sieved through 4 mm sieve to get uniform compost material. The residues available after sieving will be recycled to the next composting batch for further composting.

Nutritive value of sugarcane trash compost

Sugarcane trash compost contains 0.5% nitrogen, 0.2% phosphorus and 1.1% potassium, in addition to micronutrients traces. Sugarcane trash compost is a good source of nutrients for sugarcane crop.

Compost application

The enriched compost can be applied at the rate of 5 tons per hectare, as basal application to the field. Whatever the compost derived from sugarcane trash, it can be ploughed back into sugarcane field to enrich the soil.

Limitations in compost making and usage

• The detrashed material should be shredded into small pieces for quicker composting.
• If the detrashed materials are put as such for composting, it requires longer time and uniform composting cannot be obtained.
• Many farmers don't have separate land for composting the sugarcane trash. In that case shredding and in-situ composting inside the sugarcane field can be done.