Addressing the Problem of Maize Trash Management using Effective Microbes
Keywords:
Maize trash, Effective microbes, Carbon dioxideAbstract
Farmers consider burning as the best way to treat maize trash, and forgetting that it results to environmental pollution, decrease in soil fertility and could be detrimental to health of the farmers and people living around. Landfills are also better ways of controlling waste but not the best. Maize trash decomposition in fields and waste bins are helpful in waste management but takes a longer time, in some cases it takes a period of 90 days or more. This experiment was conducted with the aim of using Effective Microbes (EM) to reduce the time taken for maize trash decomposition. Effective Microbes are varieties of microorganisms grown as consortium which plays a great role in converting wastes into compost in short span of time. In this study, we tested efficiency of effective microbes isolated from different wastes in decomposing maize trash, it was found that those isolated from fruit wastes using laboratory method was most effective in converting the trash to compost within 40 days. The wastes were effectively decomposed with the complete softness of its texture, water production (in some cases) and reduction of the volume of the waste. Carbon dioxide released during the decomposition was monitored as well. Compost produced from the maize trash decomposition was used in growing okra (Abeimoschus esculentus) and green (Amaranthus). It was discovered that the plants grown with these compost grew well with good leaves. Hence, maize trash management using effective microbes should be practiced and encouraged for improved crop yield which will in turn address the problem of poor waste management not only in the agricultural sector of the country Nigeria.
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