Wealth from waste: A nutrient rich organic manure from cassava starch factory solid residue (thippi)

Abstract

Cassava is grown in Tamil Nadu for industrial uses for the extraction of starch which is used for the preparation of many value added industrial products. During the process, the solid residue emanated from the factory called 'Thippi' is considred as an environmental pollutant affecting the normal life of people residing near the starch factories. It is very poor in nutrients with a wide CN ratio (82:1). We have composted this thippi through different means and among these, vermicomposting is found to be the best resulting in a nutrient rich organic manure with a CN ratio of 8:1. The nutrient content in thippi compost was found several folds of thippi with good physical properties too. This was tried in cassava under the nutrient recycling concept resulted in using thippi as a substitute to FYM and other commonly used organic manures and upto 50% NPK fertilizers and secondary nutrient Mg and micronutrient Zn to the tune of 2.5 kg per hectare as their sulfates.