Comparison of the Effectiveness of Fertilizer Produced from Tannery Waste with Synthetic Fertilizer for Plant Growth
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Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Tanning is a process by which hides are converted into leather. There are large amount of waste
generated during leather processing. Among them fleshing waste, the removed flesh parts from
the limed skin during fleshing operation are produced in large quantities (Rach et al., 1997).
Animal fleshing, generated from pre-tanning operations constitute about 50 to 60% among
tannery solid wastes that are high in protein (50.9%) and collagen (3.5%) (Anim, 2013).
Conversely, nitrogen is the most important nutrient which is required for plant growth
(Abubakar et al., 2004). Therefore, animal flesh can be used as a good source of nitrogen for the
plant growth and this research was carried out to produce liquid nitrogen fertilizer from fleshing
waste generated in the tannery.
Methodology
Flesh samples were collected from Ceylon Leather Products PLC at Mattakkuliya in Sri Lanka.
Enzymatic and Alkaline hydrolysis were done separately to hydrolyze the flesh using Erhavit
DMC (a proteolytic enzyme) and carbide lime, respectively. Carbide lime (6%), Erhavit DMC
(0.4%) and water (200%) were used according to the weight of the flesh (5 kg each) for
hydrolysis at 11-13 pH and 37 C and 5 g of bactericide was added to each mixture. Three
replicates were done for each treatment and liquid extracts were collected on day 2, 4, 6, 8 and
10 to measure the Soluble N % using kjedhal method. Liquid extracts which gave the highest
nitrogen content (%) were selected from each treatment as liquid N fertilizer. According to the
trials liquid extract from day 6 alkaline hydrolysate and day 10 enzymatic hudrolysate were
selected.
Selected alkaline and enzymatic hydrolysates, urea (positive control) and without any N
fertilizer (Negative control), were applied to 14 days old lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa) to check
the effectiveness of fertilizer. Equal quantities of phosphorous and potassium were added to all
treatments considering the nutrient requirement of the lettuce plant. Four treatments consisted
three replicates including three lettuce plants per replicate. Complete Randomized Design
(CRD) was conducted and data was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mean
comparison was done by Tukey test.
Results
There is a significant difference among the four treatments and number of leaves of the plant
(p<0.05). According to the Figure 1 treatment one was the best because it gave the highest mean
value (12.967) compared to other treatments while treatments. Similarly, there is a significant
difference among the four treatments and height of the plant in the experiment. According to
Figure 2 treatment two was the best because it gave the highest mean value (22.600) compare to
other treatments.
Description
Keywords
Animal Sciences, Chemical, Agriculture, Plantations, Liquid Nitrogen Fertilizer