PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ORGANIC FERTILIZER FROM ANIMAL WASTE BLEND

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1 ABSTRACT PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ORGANIC FERTILIZER FROM ANIMAL WASTE BLEND Nuhu M 1*., Hamisu A.A., Abbas J.A., Mansur S. Department of Chemical Engineering ABU, Zaria *Corresponding author phone/ ; ; nmohammed@abu.edu.ng. This research work focused on the production and characterization of organic fertilizer from animal wastes blend (poultry litter and cow dung), where 5.0 kg each of freshly poultry litter and cow dung were collected, dried. Their moisture content was 28.0 and 69% wt. for poultry litter and cow dung respectively. The step employed for the production of the organic fertilizer involved crushing, ball milling and blending of the animal wastes. The characterization of the poultry litter and cow dung was carried out through the method of FTIR analysis to determine the percentage content of nitrogen in the poultry litter, cow dung, poultry litter-cow dung blend ratio and chemical urea fertilizer. The results of the percentage of nitrogen analysis indicate that, poultry litter has 46.02, cow dung 31.47% wt. while the poultry litter-cow dung blend ratios of 1:1,1:2 and 2:1 has 34.29, and 42.30% wt. respectively, however the urea chemical fertilizer has 45.17% of the nitrogen. The poultry litter-cow dung blend of 2:1 ratio was found to be more appropriate for the production of the organic fertilizer. Keywords:Fertilizer, Animal waste, Environmental pollution, Soil nutrients 1. INTRODUCTION The generation and subsequent accumulation of waste generated by continuous increase in human populations is one of the major problems confronting future generations. This was aggravated due to improper waste disposal that often causes greater problems in terms of environmental pollution and disease occurrence not only to human beings but also to animals. Results of a survey on waste generation in the world has indicated that an individual generates an average of g of waste in one day, with an approximate volume of about 200m3 of the waste collected in one month (Aganon et al., 2004). The composition of wastes, collected particularly in the domestic homes ranges from about 40 to 60% (Aganon et al., 2004) of biodegradable to the rest as nonbiodegradable mostly plastic, foils, wrappers, Styrofoam, bottles and cans (Aganon et al.,2004). Considering this huge volume, something has to be done to convert these wastes into useful resources. Based on one of the guiding principles of solid waste management, recycling it would alleviate the problem. On the other hand, the agriculture sector is deemed unsustainable with the negative environmental consequences on the soil condition, since the current agriculture practices are basically chemicalbased farming, which make considerable contributions to the degradation of the natural resources, particularly soils. Heavy application of fertilizers has polluted surface and groundwater resources. Intensive cropping to feed the ever expanding population coupled with high erosion rates in the uplands has resulted severe soil nutrient depletion. Based on these scenarios, there is an urgent need to find ways and means of alleviating such problems by creating new and innovative processes would allow this resource to be better utilized and simultaneously reduce environmental impacts. Nowadays, organic-based agricultural production is the rapidly emerging technology in the sector which partly solves waste disposal problems through conversion 649

2 of biodegradable wastes into organic compost ensuring the availability of organic fertilizer (Moore et al., 1991). Many organic fertilizers are by products of livestock, fish, food, and other processing industries, but the recent demand for low-cholesterol meat products has led to the tremendous expansion and production of broiler chickens in the poultry industry, leading to naturally abundant supply of chicken litter and this rapid growth of the industry has caused increasing concern about the disposal of poultry wastes with respect to nonpoint source pollution. In view of that poultry litter-based fertilizers have been analysed to be effective plant fertilizers, despite having lower nutrient concentrations than many synthetic fertilizers (Crohn, 2006). Poultry litter, is a combination of accumulated chicken manure, feathers, and bedding materials (obtained from broiler houses), is a potential biomass feedstock. It can also be described as a mixture of poultry excreta, spilled feed, feathers and material used as bedding in poultry operations. This term is also used to refer to unused bedding materials. Poultry litter is used in confinement buildings used for raising broilers, turkeys and other birds (Godwin et al., 2003). Common bedding materials include wood shavings, sawdust, peanut hulls, shredded sugarcane, straw, and other dry, absorbent, low-cost organic materials. The bedding materials help absorb moisture, thereby limiting the production of ammonia and harmful pathogens (Godwin et al., 2003). Livestock manure mostly cow dung has been an asset to crop production since the beginning of organized agriculture. The excretions from the cattle contain several essential plant nutrients, they contribute to increased crop yields when properly applied to soils and can be used as valuable sources of fertilizer nutrients for crops. The application of cow dung manure to farmland is an economic sustainable mechanism for increasing crop production, as it is an excellent soil amendment capable of increasing soil quality due to the provision of large inputs of nutrients and organic material (Pennington et al., 1984). The generation and improper disposal of solid wastes pose a major threat to the environment and high risks to human health, and also the use of synthesized fertilizers for the development of plants cause many problems to the plants, animals, human and environmental health through acidification of the soil, water pollution and contribution to climate change motivated the production and characterization of organic fertilizer from such wastes, which will hopefully reduce environmental pollution, improve soil health and crops productivity. 2. MATERIAL AND METHOD 2.1 Material The cow dung and poultry litter for the production of the organic fertilizer, were collected from Zango shanu cattle and a broiler chicken homes respectively. 2.2 Method Moisture content determination The wet samples were weighed using a weighing balance and results recorded as wt of wet sample. It was then subjected to sun drying for about 2 hours and then to an oven at temperature of C for three hours, to absorb the moisture completely, the samples were allowed to cool. The cooled samples were weighed and results recorded as wt of dry sample. The moisture content was calculated using the following equation: ( ) ( ) Sample preparation The dried poultry litter and cow dung samples were grinded into smaller particles by the means of a small crusher, in order to reduce their sizes (20-30 microns) for proper milling. 650

3 The samples were then grinded into fine particles using a ball milling machine. The milled samples were then sieved to acquire the desired particles size (5 microns) Mixing Mixing is the combination of different substances by blending them together to form a single substance. The poultry litter and cow dung samples were blended together on ratio basis of 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1, for characterization in order to determine the appropriate blending ratio. These ratios where achieved by mixing 50, 50, and 100gpoultry litre with 50, 100, and 50g cow dung Characterization The samples were characterised by determining the nutrient elements present in each of the blended samples through Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) method. The prepared samples were analysed through the Fourier transform infrared in order to know the percentage content of nitrogen present in each of them. The content of the nitrogen present in urea fertilizer sample was also determined. The FITR results obtained were interpreted as follows: The peaks of the Infrared absorptions for the Nitrogen functional group were selected. The areas that correspond to the peaks were also selected from the results Table. The selected areas were added up, divided by the total area and multiply by hundred. The result obtained indicates the percentage content of Nitrogen present in the sample. Table 1: The moisture content result of poultry litter and cow dung samples Sample Wet Sample (kg) Dry (kg) Sample Poultry litter Cow dung Moisture Content (%) The results obtained on the moisture content of the poultry litter and cow dung samples calculated indicates that, the poultry litter and the cow dung samples have moisture content of 28.0% and 68.0% respectively. This was comparable with literature value which normally averages between 25 to 75% (Gary et al., 2012). These values could retain appreciable amount of moisture, allowing the litter to be broken up easily for suitable application to the plant. 3.2 Elemental Nutrients Analysis The analysis of the elemental nutrients present in the experimental samples was done using the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR)to determine the amount of Nitrogen content as major element of interest in the samples as shown in the Figures 1,2,3,4, and RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The results obtained from characterization of both the poultry litter and cow dung samples are explained and present under moisture content determination and elemental Nutrients analysis of the samples. 3.1 Moisture Content Table 1 indicates the result of the moisture content of poultry litter and cow dung samples determined before processing. 651

4 Fig. 1: FTIR analysis result for poultry litter (P) sample Fig.3: FITR Analysis for P:C/1:1 sample Fig. 2: FTIR analysis result for cow dung (C) sample Fig.4: FITR Analysis for P:C/1:2 sample 652

5 Table 2: The FTIR result of the analyzed samples Sample Nitrogen content (%) Poultry Cow P:C/1:1 P:C/1:2 P:C/2:1 litter dung Fig.5: FITR Analysis for P:C/2:1 sample The FITR result for analyzing the percentage content of Nitrogen in the samples was interpreted by adding up the selected corresponding areas to the peaks of the infrared absorptions for the Nitrogen functional group derived from the IR absorption Table, divided by the total area and multiply by hundred. ( ) ( ) Table 2, shows the percentage contents of Nitrogen evaluated from the FTIR analysis results. The various Nitrogen group peaks occur at wave numbers (1/λ) of , , and , , , , and , , , , and , , , and , , , and cm -1 for Poultry litter, Cow dung, poultry littercow dung blended ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1 respectively. Table 2 present the evaluated percentage Nitrogen content in the samples, indicate that poultry litter and cow dung samples have 36.89% and 31.47% respectively, while that of the poultry litter-cow dung blended ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1 have 34.29%, 32.87% and 31.12% respectively. The results indicate that poultry litter contains the highest amount of Nitrogen (36.87%), while the blend ratio of P:C/2:1contains the lowest amount of Nitrogen with 31.12%, resulting from the loss of Nitrogen constituents due to the hydrolysis of the NH 2 groups (enzymatic) and then volatilization of N 2 O and NH 3 (Gary et al., 2012). The level of Nitrogen contents in the blended samples was observed to decrease with more of poultry litter due to the large chemical composition of their feed (about 45-50% concentration). The content of nitrogen analysed for the samples, the nitrogen-cow dung blending ratio of 1:1 with 36.89% is more comparable to standard urea fertilizer with 46% Nitrogen content, thus it is selected as the appropriate mixture of the poultry-cow dung blend to be used in processing the production of the organic fertilizer for effective growth and development of the plants. The blend will provide balance nutrient due to the presence of calcium, potassium and phosphorus among others present in the poultry litter. 4. CONCLUSION The blend of poultry litter and cow dung of 1:1 blend ratio provide the best formulation for the production of organic fertilizer which can appropriately serve as substitute to the 653

6 urea chemical fertilizer, which is cheaper and more environmental friendly than the chemical fertilizer. REFERENCE Aganon, C.P., Cruz, N.E., Galindez, J.L., Patricio, M.G., and Roxas, A.C. (2004). Production of Organic Fertilizer from Solid Waste. The Ecological Solid Waste Management Project. Terminal Report Crohn, D. (2006). Optimizing organic fertilizer applications under steady-state conditions. Journal of Environmental Qual. 35: Gary, D.B., and Richard D.M. (2012). Causes and prevention of wet litter in broilers houses. University of Florida. Goodwin, H.L., Jones, F.T., Watkins, S.E., and Hipp, J.S. (2003). Use and management of poultry litter and other nutrients. Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas. Pennington, J. A., Vandevender, K., and Jennings, A.J. (1984). Nutrient and Fertilizer Value of Dairy Manure.University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service in Little Rock. Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Moore, P.A., Daniel, T.C., Sharpley A.N., and Wood, C.W. (1991). Poultry Manure Management. Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas. 654