Chemical changes of spinach waste during composting and vermicomposting

Abstract

In Punjab (India), Spinach is the most widely used leafy vegetable in tempting cuisines like ‘Palak paneer’ and ‘Sarson ka Saag’, but more than 50% of its remnants are directly dumped as garbage, which otherwise can be utilized as source of organic manure. Considering this, the present study was planned to prepare compost and vermicompost of spinach collected from the supermarket of Amritsar and to estimate various chemical changes; nitrates, phosphates, sodium, potassium, calcium and pH during its composting and vermicomposting. It was observed that fresh vegetable sample of spinach showed higher contents of sodium, magnesium, phosphate and potassium when compared to its composted and vermicomposted samples. However, the contents of nitrates and calcium were higher in compost than other two samples. All the samples were found to be alkaline in nature with composted sample showing the maximum pH of 7.97.

Key words: Composting, vermicomposting, spinach, organic waste, Eisenia foetida.