Manufacturing Fermented Rapeseed Meal Compost using Two Microbial Agents and the Effect of Their Application

Abstract

Rapeseed meal, which is a byproduct of rapeseed oil extraction, improves crop productivity by supplying nutrients to the soil. The present study aimed to manufacture fermented rapeseed meal compost using two effective microbial agents and evaluate their efficiency as fertilizer. To types of fermented rapeseed meal, manufactured using either a bio-carrier or microbial agent, showed no differences in pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and total nitrogen content. However, the contents of NH4-N and NO3-N as inorganic nitrogen were increased by 5.6 times and 1.5 times, respectively, after 5 d of fermentation. Rapeseed meal fermented for 5 d was applied to tomato a basal fertilizer and after eight weeks, the plant height increased in all fermented rapeseed treatments compared to that in the chemical fertilizer treatment, and also the quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII) showed the same trend. The total nitrogen content of tomato leaves treated with a microbial fermented rapeseed meal was twice as high as that of that treated with a chemical fertilizer. It was confirmed that the increase in the tomato height was an effect of the rapeseed meal containing inorganic nitrogen, which can easily be absorbed by plants. From these results, it is considered that fermented rapeseed meal manufactured with an effective microbial agent for 5 d showed the highest inorganic nutrient content and greatest growth enhancement in tomato.