Quantifying the relative role of phytase and phosphatase enzymes in phosphorus mineralization during vermicomposting of fibrous tea factory waste

• Published in: Ecological engineering Vol. 116; pp. 97 - 103
• Main Authors: Ghosh, Swayambhu, Goswami, Anup Jyoti, Ghosh, Goutam Kumar, Pramanik, Prabhat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.06.2018; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Acid phosphatase; Animal wastes; Cattle; Cattle manure; Composting; earthworms; Enzymes; Eudrilus; manufacturing; Manures; Mineral nutrients; Mineralization; Nutrients; Organic waste treatment; Phenolic compounds; Phenols; Phosphatase; Phosphorus; Phosphorus mineralization; Phytase; phytases; Plant growth; recycling; Substrates; tea; Tea factory waste; Vermicomposting; vermicomposts; Waste materials; Worms; Tea factory waste; Vermicomposting; Nutrients; Phytase; Phosphorus mineralization; Cattle manure
• ISSN: 0925-8574; 1872-6992
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.03.001

•Tea factory waste (TFW) can be recycled with cattle manure through vermicomposting.•Mixing of TFW with cattle manure at 1:3 ratio produced good quality vermicompost.•Phosphatase and phytase enzymes are responsible for phosphorus (P) mineralizing.•Phosphatase enzyme influenced P mineralization in first 50 days of vermicomposting.•In latter stage, phytase is the dominating enzyme to enhance water extractable P. Tea factory waste (TFW) is a difficult-to-degrade and fibrous waste material generated in tonnes during tea manufacturing. Though TFW contains high amount of nutrients; high phenolic compound content and fibrous nature limit its direct use in agriculture. In this study, TFW was mixed with cattle manure at different proportions for evaluating possibility of recycling TFW through vermicomposting. It was observed that earthworms (Eudrilus euginae used in this study) could only survive when TFW was mixed with cattle manure at least in 1:1 proportion (w/w basis). The quality of vermicompost prepared from 25% TFW and 75% cattle manure combination was comparable to the vermicompost of sole cattle manure. Phosphorus (P) is one of the major nutrients required for plant growth. Though the effect of phosphatase enzyme in P mineralization during vermicomposting is well established, phytase enzyme in the vermicomposted organic substrate was not quantified before. In this study, phytase enzyme, measured in vermicomposting materials, was positively related to the amount of P mineralized. Both acid phosphatase and phytase enzymes were responsible for P-mineralization during vermicomposting. It was observed that acid phosphatase enzyme contributed to the P-mineralization in the first 50 days, while phytase enzyme contributed in the latter part of vermicomposting.