Enhancement of composting of pruning waste and gardens by means of low cost procedures.
Composting, compost, organic waste, pruning.
The municipality of Rio das Ostras produces a large volume of pruning waste and gardens, which is collected for the composting plant. The compound generated is used in public gardens and agriculture. With the current economic crisis affecting the country, the city has reduced its spending to services considered essential. The composting plant only started to crush the residue, and the farmer has to complete the composting process. The farmer often does not apply any composting technique on the material received. The objective of this work is to determine the technical and economic viability of the implementation of improvements in the processing of the pruning residues and gardens carried out in the composting plant, and to evaluate the use of compost obtained as input for the production of vegetables and aromatics. An experiment was set up with the following treatments: T1- Stack with pruning residue and gardens without maintenance of humidity; T2- Stack with pruning residue and gardens with maintenance of humidity; T3- Stack with pruning residue and gardens with maintenance of humidity + 1.0% (v / v) of castor cake; T4- Stack with pruning residue and gardens with maintenance of humidity + application of EM (Embiotic®). pH, electrical conductivity, density, C / N ratio, total content of C, N, Ca, Mg, P and K were evaluated throughout the 120 days of the process. The results of the compost obtained demonstrate the technical feasibility of implementing improvements in the composting process of the pruning residue and gardens, and the treatment with addition of castor bean cake presented the most positive results. Although all the compounds obtained from the four treatments fit within the MAPA standards as organic fertilization, they do not fit within the CONAMA Resolution No. 481 (CONAMA, 2017) as the temperature required for the hygienization of the compounds.