The comparison between three different methods in composting harvested banana pseudostems

The increasing number of banana-based industries in Malaysia generates large amounts of post-harvest banana wastes. The current research has endeavored to assess three different composting methods on harvested banana pseudostems and mixed organic wastes as bedding materials. Vermicomposting method by using African nightcrawler (Eudrilus eugeniae) has proven to be an effective way for nutrient cycling in converting small quantities of harvested banana pseudostems into value added product such as vermicast within 93 days. Comparison for the quantities of biomass produced from control composting, vermicomposting and liming associated with the rate of decomposition of organic waste into compost were evaluated in current study. The use of vermicomposting method produced 8.82 + 0.41 kg of compost within 3 months. The result showed that vermicomposting method was significant different (p<0.05) from control and compost liming methods for the mean biomass production. Eudrilus eugeniae in vermicomposting was found to be the most economical value in the maximum production of compost along with minimum effort of turning frequency.