Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Changes in Soil Amended with Agro-Industrial Waste

Abstract

Laboratory experiments were conducted for 10, 30 and 60 days to test the effect of industrial brewer’s waste on soil physico-chemical and biological properties. The treatment consists of industrial waste applied at the rate of 50g/3kg soil. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomised design with 3 replications. The soil physico-chemical properties, bacteria and fungi count, and biochemical activities were determined both in the treated and untreated [contrrol] soil. All data were analysed using ANOVA. Soil physico-chemical properties increase significantly [p>0.05] with days of incubation in both trreated and untreated soil but the treatment lower the soil pH when compared with the untreated [control] soil. Bacterial count for the treated soil ranged from 114-41.6X10^-7 CFU/g while in the untrreated soil the bacteria count ranged from 9.0 – 13.0 X 10^-7  CFU/g. The fungi count also ranged from 5.0 -13.7 X 10^-7 CFU/g  for the treated soil and 7.0 – 16.0 xX 10^-7 CFU/g for the untreated soil. The biochemical enzyme activities increase significantly [P>0.05] with days of incubation in the treated soil except amylase enzyme activity that gave steady increase with days of incubation in the untreated soil.