Co-composting of coconut coir pith with solid poultry manure

Coir pith, a ligno-cellulosic biomass formed during extraction of coir fibre from coconut husk, accumu-lates as a waste material near coir processing factories causing environmental and disposal problems. The feasibility of co-composting coir pith with solid poul-try manure was tested with and without lime and rock phosphate amendment. The results revealed that the composting process facilitated by poultry manure amendment brought about bioconversion of coir pith to a final product in 45 days and the final product possessed physico-chemical characteristics required for quality organic manure. C: N ratio, which is con-sidered as a maturity index of composting process, reduced during the composting process, to 21.42. The results of plant test using cowpea as bioassay plant revealed that the compost reached adequate maturity from biological point of view for use as an organic input in crop production. Keywords: