STUDIES ON RECYCLING OF SOME AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT WASTES FOR ORGANIC FERTILIZERS PRODUCTION

Abstract

The intensive utilization of chemical fertilizers, cultivation of short seasonal crops particularly in absence or lack of organic manuring and the removal of plant residues from the land, all of these practices, adversely affect the soil fertility status. Because of the climatic arid conditions dominating in Egypt beside the aforementioned reasons, the Egyptian soils are very poor in their organic matter content which seldom exceeds 2 % and is oftenly less than 1 % or even less than 0.1 % in some newly reclaimed soils. Frequent and high supplemental applications of organic fertilizers are necessary for improving the physical, chemical and microbiological properties of the soils, particularly the newly reclaimed ones and hence their productivity. The annual Egyptian demand for organic fertilizers is estimated to be more than about 150 million ton/year while the different types of farm wastes were estimated by about 26 million ton/year, out of which about 15.6 million tons (60 %) are disposed through burning. Composting is a biochemical transformation of organic matter by microorganisms to produce stabilized soil conditioner, which improves soil quality, and help plant to flourish. The composting process of organic materials prior to its application is recommended to control the spread of plant pathogens and weeds, minimize the production of phytotoxic substances, improve storage and handling, reduce unpleasant odorous and biodegrade hazardous wastes. (Parr et al., 1982; Zuccani and DeBertoldi, 1987). Supplementation of raw material with natural rocks (such as rock phosphate and feldspar) and microbial inoculants (such as