Durian Peels, Jack Fruit Peels and Low Quality Bananas on Chemical Properties of Vermicompost

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of durian peels, jack fruit peels and low qualities bananas on chemical properties of vermicompost. The experiment was conducted using CRD, consisting of 4 treatments with 4 replications. The treatments were as followed 1) cow manure, 2) cow manure + durian peels, 3) cow manure + jack fruit peels and 4) cow manure + low qualities banana. The earthworms (African Night Crawler (Eudrilus eugeniae) species) were grown in this study. Treatments of 2, 3 and 4 were fed to earthworms every 15 days interval, total of 4 times until 60 days. Continuous watering for 30 days was further done after stopping feeding. Vermicompost sampling were done before feeding at 60 and 90 days after growing earthworms for chemical analysis consisting of pH, EC, OM and NPK contents. It was found that chemical properties of vermicompost produced from durian peels, jack fruit peels and low qualities banana passed the Organic Fertilizer Standard of Department of Agriculture. Vermicompost produced from jack fruit peels showed a trend of the highest total K2O content (2.56%) and showed the highest total N (1.31%N). Moreover, it was found that vermicompost from jack fruit peels had a pH of 6.85 which was closed to the neutral (pH 7) level more than other treatments. In addition, vermicompost from jackfruit showed the highest Ec (1 .8 8 ds / m). Vermicompost from jackfruit has a higher total P2O5 content than vermicompost from durian peels. However, it was found that, OM were not significantly different among treatments.