Abstract

Solid waste management has become one of the vital issues to protect health and public safety. Preparation of organic manures like vermicompost, Farm Yard Manure (FYM) etc. from various organic wastes (agricultural wastes) will save our environment from pollution as well as application of these manures in agricultural land prevent those lands from the harmful effect of chemical fertilizers. With these views keeping in background for saving our environment from ill effects of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers by substituting them partially or entirely through applying organic manures after converting agricultural wastes into wealth (organic manures), an experiment was carried out in the farmer’s field at village Shikarpur (P.O. Bhagirathi Shilpashram, Dist. Nadia, Pin. 741248, W.B., India) during the year 2008 to 2010 with two crops (rice –rainy season and Lentil –winter season). The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with 5 treatments (T₀- without fertilizer or manure, T₁-100% organic through vermicompost, T₂- 100% organic through FYM, T₃-100% chemical through fertilizer and T₄-50% organic through mixed organic manure + 50% chemical through fertilizer) replicated 3 times. It has been found that the vermicompost treated soil showed better result in comparison to that demonstrated by the chemical fertilizers in terms of soil physical and chemical properties as well as productivity of soil.

Key words: Organic waste, vermicompost, farm yard manure, soil quality, chemical fertilizer.