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Valorisation of Biowaste and Aquatic Invasive Plants Through Compost Production for Agricultural Use

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Abstract

This study evaluates the quality of compost produced from household biowaste (CBIO), aquatic invasive plants (CAIP) and a mixture of the invasive plants and biowaste (CBAIP) and the effect of their application on maize yield in comparison with mineral fertilizer (NPK). The composts were produced using Aerobin 400 Composter with aquatic invasive plant harvested from the Owabi dam and solid biowaste collected from households within the Owabi catchment in the Ashanti Region of Ghana as feedstock. A field experiment in a 35 × 19 m plot of maize was conducted with 9 treatments of the different compost produced and mineral fertilizers in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 4 replications. The results show that the composts produced have acceptable quality with regards to nutrients (NPK), organic matter (OM), organic carbon (OC), bulk density, porosity, and heavy metal contents (Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, As, Ni) among other properties. Grain yields following treatment with CAIP (2.06 ± 0.692 tons/ha), CBAIP (2.15 ± 0.668 tons/ha) and CBIO (2.052 ± 0.915 tons/ha) were similar to grain yields from NPK application (2.55 ± 0.611 tons/ha) but significantly higher than the control (1.34 ± 0.500 tons/ha) at 5%. The results show that the different compost types produced have beneficial impacts on maize yields comparable to NPK application. It is, therefore, concluded that aquatic invasive plants and biowaste are suitable feedstock to produce high-quality compost that can be applied to significantly improve grain yields.

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Plate 1

Source: https://www.exaco.com/aerobin-composter.php

Plate 2
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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA), DFC Project Building Stronger Universities Programme Phase III (BSU III KNUST) for providing funds for this research.

Funding

This study was funded by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA), DFC Project Building Stronger Universities Programme Phase III (BSU III KNUST).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Albert Banunle, Bernard Fei-Baffoe & Kodwo Miezah

  2. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Nana Ewusi-Mensah & Alice Amoah

  3. Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Foulum, Denmark

    Uffe Jørgensen

  4. Department of Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness and Extension, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Robert Aidoo

  5. Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Patrick Addo-Fordjour

  6. Office of Grant and Research, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    Robert Clement Abaidoo

  7. Aarhus University Centre for Circular Bioeconomy, Aarhus, Denmark

    Uffe Jørgensen

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  1. Albert Banunle
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The first draft of the manuscript was written by AB and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Albert Banunle.

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Banunle, A., Fei-Baffoe, B., Miezah, K. et al. Valorisation of Biowaste and Aquatic Invasive Plants Through Compost Production for Agricultural Use. Waste Biomass Valor 14, 4127–4139 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-023-02119-2

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