S.S. Kokitkar, L.R. Chavan, R.D. Nanekar and S.S. Ghadage
Abstract
Fish waste is one of the wastes with disposal issues. The disposal of fish waste in water or surrounding area may create odour problems, oxygen depression of water bodies etc. Fish waste management by conversion into compost is an eco-friendly strategy. The fish waste compost can be used as organic fertilizers for organic farming by the farmers. In the present studies the local fish waste has been utilized to make compost. All the physical and chemical parameters of compost have been analysed and its effect was studied on the growth of Vigna radiata plant. The overall studies reveal that fish waste fertilizers showed very promising effects in the growth of the Vigna radiata plant. Fish waste was found to be very rich in NPK and calcium content due to proteins and bones and cartilages present in fish waste. Phytotoxicity assay proved that all the concentrations of compost supported germination of the seeds. In addition to this the present study was an eco-friendly approach to manage fish waste. This method is very cheap and useful for organic farming. Compost was found to be very effective in increasing plant height, leaf number, leaf- index and pod numbers as compared to the control plants.