Composting of tobacco plant waste by manual turning and forced aeration system.docVIP

Maejo Int. J. Sci. Technol. 2009, 3(02), 248-260 Maejo International Journal of Science and Technology ISSN 1905-7873 Available online at www.mijst.mju.ac.th Full Paper Composting of tobacco plant waste by manual turning and forced aeration system Nonglak Saithep , Srisulak Dheeranupatana , Panalak Sumrit , Somsak Jeerat , Sukanya 1,* 1 2 3 Boonchalearmkit , Janewit Wongsanoon and Chaiwat Jatisatienr 4 4 1 1 2 3 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50202, Thailand Mae Jo Tobacco Experiment Station, Chiang Mai 50290, Thailand Mae Hia Agricultural Research and Training Centre, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand 4 Environmental Research and Training Centre, Department of Environmental Quality Promotion, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand * Corresponding author, e-mail: nonglak_pim_saithep@ Received: 14 July 2008 / Accepted: 4 May 2009 / Published: 12 May 2009 Abstract: The efficiency of tobacco plant waste composting, by the manual turning and the forced aeration system, was compared. Tobacco plant waste, cow manure, urea fertiliser, and a compost inoculum mixture at a 100:10:0.2:0.01 ratio respectively, with 60% (w/v) moisture content, were set up in piling forms. The piles of the manual turning system were provided with turning aeration by hand at intervals of 7 days during the composting process. For the forced aeration system, each pile was aerated by a 3-HP air pump with a flow rate of 19 litres min for 15 minutes every morning and -1 evening. The completely randomised design of turned and force-aerated piles was perfor