Quality of Bioslurry released at Makerere university center of excellence in waste management

Abstract

Bioslurry is semi-liquid product of anaerobic breakdown of organic waste. Bioslurry is a valuable resource and used as a fertilizer used to increase crop yields in agricultural fields. In anaerobic conditions, the organic residues are biodegraded by microorganisms especially methanogenic bacteria releasing methane. The recalcitrant residue contains plant nutrients (N.P.K) in the bioslurry material. Bioslurry can supply crops with various nutrients. The use of bioslurry as a fertilizer has already shown promising results in improving physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. The study determined the concentrations of ammonium nitrogen (NH3 -N) and nitrate nitrogen (NO3 – -N) which are products of organic matter mineralization fed into the digester. The study also involved determining weekly pH and suspended solids, concentrations of C, total N, P and K. The cattle dung was fed into the digester each Thursday, Saturday, and Monday and harvesting slurry samples for analysis was done on every Tuesday from 11th February, 2020 to 3rd March, 2020 and analysis was done weekly. The bioslurry had low C: N ratios in range of 0.254 to 1.1682 indicating low concentrations of carbon to nitrogen. Ratio of mineral nitrogen to total nitrogen was in the range of 0.0076 to 0.0713, ratios less than one indicated immature sludge, and required time to mature. Ratio of ammonium nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen was in range of 2.6888 to 5.8109, ratios higher than one indicate ammonium nitrogen than nitrate nitrogen.