PRODUCTION OF BIOFERTILIZER FROM FRUIT WASTES

Vidhya Devi and Dr. V. Judia Harriet Sumathy*

ABSTRACT

India, an agriculture based country has a wide variety of flora and fauna. Agriculture along with fisheries and forestry is one of the largest contributors of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).India’s agriculture is composed of many crops besides wheat and rice such as pulses, potatoes, sugarcane, coffee, oil seeds and jute. Currently, the total agricultural output is lost due to inefficiencies in harvesting, transport and storage of government subsidized crops. Decline of agriculture is due to depletion of soil fertility and also partially associated with unfavourable distribution of rainfall, drought, storm and floods. The major problems faced by the farmers are high cost of inorganic fertilizers which are required for plant growth. The chemical fertilizers used pollute the air, soil and water ecosystems. To overcome this, Researchers have found “Bio fertilizer” as an excellent alternate to Chemical fertilizers. Bio fertilizers or Organic fertilizers supply nutrients to the soil. An organic material present in the soil may improve the soil fertility and also slow down the release of nitrogen and thus help to control the depletion of the soil and increase the other nutrient supply. The present study is aimed at producing Biofertilizers from Fruit wastes using Solid State Fermentation.

Keywords: India, Agriculture, GDP, Chemical Fertilizers and Bio fertilizers.