The effective of compost made from different agricultural residues on growth of Chinese kale under participatory action research at Pa-tan community, Mae Tha district, Lampang province

Abstract

The Participatory Action Research (PAR) aimed to promote the usage of local agricultural residues for making compost. Target group was 6 farmers at Pa tan community, Mae Tha district, Lampang province. Six participating farmers were brainstorming and sharing experiences with the researcher in finding guidelines for using local wastes in making compost under the concept of “Safety Agriculture”. The experiment plots were located in farmer’s farm. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was used in this experiment. Rice straw, leaves of rain tree (Samanea saman) or old infected mushroom loaf were fermented with cow dung, soil and LDD microbial activator as the designate formula. Physical and chemical changes including; content of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), pH, C/N ratio, electric conductivity (EC), organic carbon, organic materials, decomposition rate of the compost and germination index (GI) were measured. The composts were then tested for their quality by growing ‘Tai Wan-Bang Bua Thong 35’ Chinese kale in farmer’s farm with CRD experimental design. Ten replicates per one treatment. The 4 treatments consisted of 1) control (4 kg of soil), 2) 100 g of compost made from rice straw + 4 kg of soil, 3) 100 g of compost made from leaves of rain tree + 4 kg of soil and 4) 100g of compost made from old infected mushroom loaf + 4 kg of soil. Total growth period were 40 days. Height, fresh weight, root length and chlorophyll content of Chinese kale were measured.

The results showed that total period for a fully decomposition of the compost was 120 days. Statistical differences at 95% confidence interval in pH, organic carbon, organic materials, nitrogen and calcium content were found between treatments. Compost made from leaves of rain tree had the highest organic materials (30.46%) and nitrogen content (1.46%) when compared to other treatments. Highest content of organic carbon (17.66%) was found in compost made from leaves of rain tree and rice straw. Compost made from old infected mushroom loaf had the highest pH and calcium content with the mean value of 8.53 and 1.23%, respectively. No statistical differences between treatments were found in electrical conductivity, C/N ratio, phosphorus, potassium magnesium and germination index content. After that, the effective of the composts were tested by growing Chinese kale ‘Tai Wan-Bang Bua Thong 35’. It was found that height, fresh weight and root length of Chinese kale growth with all tested composts were not statistically difference, except for the control. But it was tended that compost made from leaves of rain tree give higher height and fresh weight than other treatments. Root length of Chinese kale growth with compost made from old infected mushroom loaf was higher than other treatments and statistically difference from the rice straw treatment and the control. The study also found that Chinese kale growth with compost made from leaves of rain tree had the highest chlorophyll content when compared to other treatments and statistically difference from the result of plants growth with compost made from rice straw or control. The research concluded that compost made from leaves of rain tree was more suitable for plant growth than compost made from rice straw and old infected mushroom loaf.