Development of Biofertilizer from Composted Cow-dung

The potentials of biofertilizer in enhancing crop growth without affecting the quality of soil when compared with inorganic fertilizer motivated this investigation. Cow dung as a feedstock in this work contributed to environmental pollution. However, converting it to useful product for soil amendment justified the research problem. Therefore, this work was aimed at developing biofertilizer from composted cow-dung. This was achieved by mixing 6 kg of cow dung with 1 liter of water for 30 minutes, after which it was transferred into the digester. The pH, moisture content and temperature of the composting system were monitored and recorded at every two days interval for the period of 30 days. The composted product was then discharged, drained and dried with net bag in an open air. Then, 1 kg of brown sugar was dissolved in 2 liters of water for fermentation process. The solution was covered and sealed tightly to stand for 30 days. The liquid solution obtained was subjected to biochemical analysis to identify the active strains of microorganism present. The fermentation product was added to the dried compost product in the digester, covered and left to stand for 15 days. The product was discharged and sample was taken for proximate/quality control analysis. The results showed that, the developed biofertilizer contained carbon to nitrogen ratio of 9.8: 1, 0.28 % nitrogen, 0.0099% phosphorus and 0.048% potassium contents. It also has a pH value of 7.1, moisture content of 40 % and the presence of Bacillus SP with cell a count of 4.3 x 107 cell/g. It was therefore concluded that, the biofertilizer developed met the requirement for crop growth and can be used for soil amendment. Keywords: Biofertilizer, cow-dung, composted, quality control analysis.