Kitchen Waste Disposal and Management Practices in Urban Region of Bangladesh through Barrel Composting System

Mohammad Rasel Mahmud, Md. Sirajul Islam, Nowara Tamanna Meghla,
Md. Humayun Kabir, Muhammad Jasim Uddin

Abstract: The present paper is based on a study that was performed to assess the kitchen waste management through barrel composting system in order to produce organic fertilizer, and to investigate the physicochemical properties (pH and moisture content) including nutrient contents (OC, N, P, K and S) and heavy metal concentration (Pb, Cd and Cr) of the produced organic fertilizer during the period from July 2016 to June 2017 in the urban area of Tangail region. Kitchen wastes were collected twice in a week for 6 months from 2 halls of Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU) and 2 wards of Tangail municipality and divided into 2 phases. About 5.8 kg organic fertilizer was produced from 178.52 kg kitchen waste, which was highly enriched with nutrients. The pH of the composts was increased and moisture contents (67 to 71% in 1st phase and 36 to 44% in 2nd phase) were decreased with duration and waste dried up period. Finally, moisture content ranged from 23 to 31%. The produced organic fertilizer contained organic carbon (24.42 to 27.68%), total nitrogen (2.035 to 2.533%), C/N ratio (10.07 to 12), phosphorus (0.735 to 0.872%), potassium (2.83 to 3.89%) and sulphur (0.578 to 0.68%). The Pb concentration exceeded in green barrel, whereas it was negligible in black barrel. The Cd and Cr concentrations in both types of barrels were within permissible level.

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Heterosis Study in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) for Yield Attributing Traits through Line x Tester Matting Design

Shyam Sundar Lakshman, Nihar Ranjan Chakrabarty, Praresh Chandra Kole

Abstract: Heterosis is the increase or decrease in vigour of F1 over its mid or better parental value. The development of new high yielding and stable sunflower hybrids based on hybridization requires information on the heterotic effects for agronomically important traits in the F1 generation. This paper estimates the extent of heterosis for various characters and to isolate promising sunflower hybrids. From the experiment it was revealed that the average heterosis of 8.9% for days to 50% flowering, 65.1% for plant height; 80.3% for head diameter;139.8% for seed yield (kg/ha);107.5% for number of filled seed/head; 5.9% for seed filling %; 10.8% for 100 seed weight, 12.1%for 100 seed kernel weight, 6.5% for hull content; 4.7% for volume weight (g/100 cc); 0.1% for oil content (%;) and 140.4% for oil yield (kg/ha) respectively. In all crosses, seed and oil yield (kg/ha) traits and other desirable traits, P-2-7-1A, CMS-10 A, P-89-1A, EC-601958, R-104, EC-601978, R-138-2, R-630 and R-6D-1 were involved more frequently. Among the 36 sunflower hybrids, for seed yield and oil yield (kg/ha), fifteen crosses displayed significant positive sca effects and performance per se, among them the crosses.

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Measurement of Growth, Yield, Biomass and Heavy Metals Accumulation in Red Spinach Grown under Industrial Effluents

Mohammad Saiful Islam, Md. Sirajul Islam, Tanmoy Roy Tusher, Mausumi Rehnuma, Md. Humayun Kabir

Abstract: The study was conducted to measure the growth, yield, biomass and heavy metal accumulation in red spinach (Amaranthus dubius) irrigated with treated and untreated industrial effluents, and groundwater. A total of twelve experimental plots, with three treatments (treated, untreated industrial effluents and groundwater) and four replications, were prepared inside the Jananeta Abdul Mannan Hall of Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University campus, where red spinach was cultivated and irrigated with 2.5 liter treated, untreated industrial effluents and groundwater in each plot. The content of Zn as 193.28, 182.83, 136.55 and 210.07 ppm, Cd as 0.77, 0.87, 0.93 and 1.03 ppm, Cu as 47.32, 48.93, 57.29 and 73.58 ppm, were recorded in initial soil, soil irrigated with groundwater, treated and untreated industrial effluents, respectively. The content of Zn as 0.00, 0.00 and 0.07 ppm, Cd as 0.004, 0.006 and 0.011 ppm, and Cu as 0.00, 0.02 and 0.68 ppm, were recorded in groundwater, treated and untreated industrial effluent, respectively. The content of Zn as 61.64, 65.30 and 67.67 ppm, Cd as 0.33, 0.52 and 0.57 ppm, Cu as 5.73, 7.79 and 7.95 ppm, were investigated from red spinach plant irrigated with groundwater, treated and untreated industrial effluent, respectively. The levels of cadmium in the red spinach were much higher than that of WHO/ FAO recommended level.

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A Study on Genotypic Evaluation of Green Gram (Vigna radiata L.) in respect of Yield and Yield-Attributing Traits in the Coastal Saline belts of Sundarbans, West Bengal

Shyam Sundar Lakshman, Nihar Ranjan Chakrabarty, Praresh Chandra Kole

Abstract: A field experiment was carried out at Ramkrishna Ashram KVK Instructional Farm, Nimpith, South 24Parganas during the pre-kharif season, 2012 to evaluate the performance of 66 numbers of green gram (Vigna radiata L.) genotypes in low to medium saline soil in coastal saline belts of Sundarbans, West Bengal. Almost all the 66 cultivars selected for the experiments took 5-6 days for 75% germination of seedlings and 27-36 days to achieve 50% flowering. Final plant stand count was from 70-80%. The higher value of seed yield was observed in PUSA-2031 (1398 kg), 75.4% higher in comparison to the local check Chaiti moong (797 kg/ha) followed by KM-11-573 (1302 kg; 63.3% more than LC), SM-11-41 (1286 kg; 61.3% more than LC), KM-11-583 (1280 kg, 60.6% more than LC), KM-11-578 (1211 kg, 51.9% more than LC), respectively. The significantly higher values of other yield attributing traits were observed among the green gram genotypes. In case of root length, the above genotypes were found significantly lower (12.33-14.33 cm, 7.8-20.4%) than the Chaiti moong (LC) 15.5 cm. From the above experiment it may be concluded that in the similar situation as well as soil salinity condition the above green gram genotypes may prove to perform better than the local cultivar Chaiti moong for cultivation in the coastal saline regions of Sundarbans, West Bengal.

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