Rice husk is the byproduct of the rice milling industry. It is generated in large quantity annually as waste. It is suspected to be of environmental importance if not properly disposed, but most importantly it is believed to be useful as agricultural soil input, hence the need for this study. An assessment to ascertain the usefulness of rice husk as a soil input vis a vis the quality of two NPK branded inorganic fertilizers: 15-15-15 and 20-10-10. Analysis of rice husks revealed its content to be nitrogen(1.90 %), phosphorus (0.48 %), potassium (0.81 %). The analysis further revealed that rice husks contain most micro nutrients which make it more advantageous over the inorganic fertilizer. Mean concentrations of the micro nutrients were: calcium, 0.27 %, magnesium 0.24 %, iron 0.058%, zinc 0.016 %, manganese 0.013%, copper 0.0007%, sodium 0.02 %. Organic carbon, organic matter, carbon to nitrogen ratio (C: N), and pH were found to be 24.94 %, 43.12 %, 13.1 % and 7.0 respectively. Macro nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and potassium) in the compost rice husk were significantly lower than the inorganic branded fertilizers.

Keyword:rice husk, inorganic and organic fertilizers,macronutrients and micronutrients

• Full Text: PDF(147KB)
• Full Text: HTML