EFFECT OF FAECAL SLUDGE COMPOST ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF RED AMARANTH (AMARANTHUS CRUENTUS)

Worldwide, 2.7 billion people rely on onsite sanitation, which is a big problem in developing countries where the use of human excreta as organic fertilizer can give a solution in waste management as well as improve soil quality and sources of plant nutrition. Thus, a pot experiment was conducted at Soil, Water and Environment Discipline, University of Khulna, from November 2019 to March 2020 to investigate the best dose of faecal sludge application in soil for growth, yield, and nutrient uptake by Amaranthus cruentus. The experiment consisted of four treatments (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% faecal sludge with soil) and a control (no faecal sludge) with three replications, which were laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The present study revealed that the highest significant variation of germination (98.60%), plant height (36.99 cm), leaf number (14), root length (7.53 cm) fresh weight (8.65 g), yield per pot (8.63 g) was obtained for 4% faecal sludge mixture soil. Moreover, uptake by the plant N (2.90%), P (2.00%), K (5.51%), Ca (0.056%), Mg (0.29%) and Fe (0.036%) was also significantly higher for 4% rather than 1, 2 and 3% sludge treated soil. Therefore, for growth, yield and nutrient uptake of red amaranth, application of 4% faecal sludge compost to soil (faecal sludge compost: soil = 4:96) was the best for uses and it is recommended for the plants.