Recent Trends in Bioresource Management for Greener Environment pp 32-47
Editors: Dr. Mani Jayakumar
Dr. Natchimuthu Karmegam (2022)
ISBN: 978-93-94174-05-4
Chapter 3
Banana Waste: An Efficient Substrate for Eco-Friendly Vermitechnology
Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Pallavaram - 600 117, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Abstract
Vermitechnology is the conversion of organic waste into vermicompost, which turns garbage into fertile compost while reducing waste disposal in landfills. Bananas are commonly grown in tropical and subtropical areas across the world. The yearly gross output of bananas in India is 29 million tonnes, of which around 25.7 % constitutes its leaves. Banana leaves are commonly discarded as garbage, causing environmental issues. Banana cultivation produces lots of trash in a single crop season, with 30 tonnes of waste is generated per acre. The biodegradable fraction of banana leaf waste is thrown out in large quantities from temples, marketplaces, wedding halls, hotels, residential areas, etc. These practices also cause essential nutrients in the plant biomass to be lost. The banana leaves possess lignin, cellulose, pectin, hemicellulose, and rich plant nutrients that can be recovered using vermicomposting. This technique is one of the potential approaches for converting phytomass into organic fertilizers is vermicomposting. Earthworm digests organic materials with the enzymes produced in gut microflora. The vermicomposting requires lesser energy, limited infrastructure, and inherits the ability to return carbon and other nutrients to the soil. The whole plant (leaves, stem, and rhizome) of banana, after harvesting, is left in the field that takes several months to degrade naturally. These banana wastes can also be utilized for recycling through vermicomposting as good-quality manure.
Keywords
Vermitechnology, Banana, Microflora, Cellulose, Manure
Cite this Chapter: Subalakshmi R., Vishnu Priyan, M., Jayanthi, M., Ashok Kumar, K., 2022. Banana Waste: An Efficient Substrate for Eco-Friendly Vermitechnology. In: M. Jayakumar and N. Karmegam (Eds.), Recent Trends in Bioresource Management for Greener Environment. Excellent Publishers, India. pp. 32-47. doi: https://doi.org/10.20546/978-93-94174-05-4_3
