Synergistic effect of fungal consortia and C/N ratio variation on rice straw degradation

Abstract

In this study, the efficiency of fungal consortia was evaluated on the degradation of rice straw by varying the initial carbon/nitrogen ratio of the compost piles. Consortia of three potent cellulose-degrading fungal strains: Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus terreus and Aspergillus flavus were used as an inoculant to degrade rice straw in a 90-day composting process. The carbon/nitrogen ratio of the composting piles was varied by varying the proportion of bedding material in different treatments. The composts thus achieved were subjected to physic-chemical analysis and phytotoxicity assay using Solanum lycopersicum as test seeds. After 90 days of composting, compost from treatment 4 with initial carbon/nitrogen ratio 34 depicted maximum stability by achieving a final carbon/nitrogen ratio of 16.25. Compost from treatment 4 showed the highest Germination Index (%) followed by treatment 3 and treatment 2 as 94.32%, 88.88% and 79%, respectively on the growth of Solanum lycopersicum seeds. Results concluded that fungal consortia derived agro-waste compost with an initial carbon/nitrogen ratio 34 depicted the earliest maturity which is suggestive of its suitability for agricultural application.