Biochemical and Instrumental Characterization of Vermicompost Produced From Patchouli Bagasse: A Waste by-product of Essential Oil Industries

Biochemical and instrumental analysis was carried out for understanding the maturity and stability of the vermicomposted patchouli bagasse (PB) and cow dung (CD) mixtures. Two important enzymes namely urease and dehydrogenase were evaluated to understand the biological changes. On the other hand, instrumental study includes scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging; X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern and UV-VIS spectrophotometer analysis of the vermicomposting end products. The results showed enhancement in urease (1.14-2.84 folds) and dehydrogenase (1.7-3.1 folds) activities confirming the maturity and stability of the vermicomposting end products. The spectrophotometric analysis revealed that there was significant decrease in humification index (1.5 to 3.4 folds) in the vermicompost samples than the initial level. The SEM images depicted the porous, fragmented and granular structure of end vermicompost samples. Further, the XRD analysis showed the micromorphological crystalline structure and enhanced decomposition of the substrate mixture during vermicomposting process. As a whole, the end vermicompost product was found to be much stable and mature for agronomic use.