Relevance of Physicochemical and Nutritional Variables During Rotary Drum Composting of Water Hyacinth with Biochar Amendment

Biochar (BC) is characterized by lower moisture content and enriched carbon whose utilization in composting successfully improves the efficacy of composting process by increasing the thermophilic temperature and period. However, relevance or interplay of physicochemical and nutritional variables for in-vessel composting of water hyacinth with BC amendment has rarely been investigated. Therefore, the essence of the present work is to assess the effect of BC amendment (0 and 2.5 kg in 100 kg mix) to a mix of water hyacinth, cow dung, and sawdust. Hence, the findings reveal that with BC amendment, thermophilic temperature of 56.9 °C was reached and lasted for more than 3 days, necessary for pathogen remediation. Furthermore, strong relationship among physiochemical and nutritional variables with significant correlation among the same was observed as inferred from scatterplot matrix; hence, provides valuable information for improving various physicochemical and nutritional variables in contrast to compost application in agro-sectors.