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Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat

Assam Agricultural University is the first institution of its kind in the whole of North-Eastern Region of India. The main goal of this institution is to produce globally competitive human resources in farm sectorand to carry out research in both conventional and frontier areas for production optimization as well as to disseminate the generated technologies as public good for benefitting the food growers/produces and traders involved in the sector while emphasizing on sustainability, equity and overall food security at household level. Genesis of AAU - The embryo of the agricultural research in the state of Assam was formed as early as 1897 with the establishment of the Upper Shillong Experimental Farm (now in Meghalaya) just after about a decade of creation of the agricultural department in 1882. However, the seeds of agricultural research in today’s Assam were sown in the dawn of the twentieth century with the establishment of two Rice Experimental Stations, one at Karimganj in Barak valley in 1913 and the other at Titabor in Brahmaputra valley in 1923. Subsequent to these research stations, a number of research stations were established to conduct research on important crops, more specifically, jute, pulses, oilseeds etc. The Assam Agricultural University was established on April 1, 1969 under The Assam Agricultural University Act, 1968’ with the mandate of imparting farm education, conduct research in agriculture and allied sciences and to effectively disseminate technologies so generated. Before establishment of the University, there were altogether 17 research schemes/projects in the state under the Department of Agriculture. By July 1973, all the research projects and 10 experimental farms were transferred by the Government of Assam to the AAU which already inherited the College of Agriculture and its farm at Barbheta, Jorhat and College of Veterinary Sciences at Khanapara, Guwahati. Subsequently, College of Community Science at Jorhat (1969), College of Fisheries at Raha (1988), Biswanath College of Agriculture at Biswanath Chariali (1988) and Lakhimpur College of Veterinary Science at Joyhing, North Lakhimpur (1988) were established. Presently, the University has three more colleges under its jurisdiction, viz., Sarat Chandra Singha College of Agriculture, Chapar, College of Horticulture, Nalbari & College of Sericulture, Titabar. Similarly, few more regional research stations at Shillongani, Diphu, Gossaigaon, Lakhimpur; and commodity research stations at Kahikuchi, Buralikson, Tinsukia, Kharua, Burnihat and Mandira were added to generate location and crop specific agricultural production packages.

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20211
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Subject: Soil Sciences × Author: Bora, Rimjim Sikha × Start date: 2020 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    BIOCONVERSION OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INTO FORTIFIED COMPOST USING MICROBIAL MEDIATORS
    (AAU, Jorhat, 2021) Bora, Rimjim Sikha; Gayan, Anjuma
    Rapid composting of municipal solid waste (MSW) collected from two different sites(main landfill of Jorhat municipal corporation and dumping site of Rowriah, Jorhat,Assam), was done using three different decomposers microbial consortiagroup (DMC @1%) for 60 days, and thereafter biofortification of the MSW compost was done by addition of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) for 20 days.The DMCgroup were previously isolated from polluted sites of Assam, and denominated as paper group, oil group and cement group. For comparison with MSW, agro-waste was also used in the study, which did not receive DMC, but received PGPR application after 60 days.At 80 DAI (days after inoculation),pHwas stabilized in the range between 7.40-7.76 in MSW I and 7.00-7.55 in MSW II, electrical conductivity (EC) was recorded to be in the range3.08-5.21 dS m-1(MSW I) and 1.55-3.85 dS m-1(MSW II).The temperatures during composting period were maintained between 27.33-28.66°C in MSW I and 28.66-32.33°C in MSW II, while the moisture content decreased in both sites at 80 DAI. Following PGPR application, total carbon content declined to a minimum of 17.24-24.82% in MSW I and 17.52-27.7% in MSW II, while total nitrogen content increased to 1.01-1.7% in MSW I and 0.85-1.53% in MSW II. Total phosphorus and total potassium content also exhibited increasing trend till the end of composting.At 80 DAI, C:N ratio declined over uninoculated treatment in both sites and ranged between10.37-15.90 (T1-T3) in MSW I and 12.26-13.13(T1-T3) in MSW II,.NO3-N elevated till the end of composting, contrarily, NH4+-Ndeclined to a minimum of 0.09-0.27% in MSW I and 0.08-0.27% in MSW II.CEC increased to 22.35-29.99 c mol (p+) kg-1 in MSW I and 22.43-28.17% c mol (p+) kg-1 in MSW II. Heavy metals, viz- Pb and Cdcontent decreased to 98.20-250 ppm(T1-T3) and 0.74-0.81ppm(T1-T3) during PGPR fortification.Total bacterial count of the fortified compost was displayed at 6.17 to 7.01Log cfu g-1in MSW I and 6.16 to 6.93 Logcfu g-1in MSW II, while fungi population recorded at 4.81 to 6.03 Log cfu g-1 in MSW I and 4.91 to 6.06Log cfu g-1 in MSW II. Actinomycetes population recorded at 6.70 to 6.99 Log cfu g-1in MSW I and 6.68 to 7.00 Log cfu g-1in MSW II at 80 DAI.Estimation of biologically important enzymes (phosphomonoesterase,dehydrogenase, arylsulphatase, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis) provided information on the rate of organic matter degradation following inoculation with DMC and PGPR biofortification. Upon addition of PGPR, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) attained a range of higher values in between 210.66-1167.21 μg g-1 in MSW I and 201.46-1005.6 μg g-1in MSW II. Overall gradual drop of basal respiration rate and increment in microbial quotient was observed after addition of PGPR to MSW compost. A pot culture experiment was designed to check the efficacy of test plant Soyabean which exhibited that the MSW compost produced was non-toxic and displayed significant difference between the DMC treated plants over the uninoculated control. Study revealed that microbial mediators (DMC and PGPR) used during composting are efficient and can result in better bioconversion of MSW to usable compost.