Fertilizing power evaluation of different mixtures of organic household waste and olive pomace
¹Mohammed V University, High School of Technology, Civil Engineering and Environment Laboratory (LGCE), Materials Water and Environment team, MA11060 Sale, Morocco
²INRA, Regional Center for Agricultural Research in Rabat, Research Unit on Environment and Natural Resource Conservation, MA10112 Rabat, Morocco
*Correspondence: ayoub_doughmi@um5.ac.ma
Abstract:
From the perspective of sustainable agriculture established by the Green Morocco Plan, it is interesting to direct research more towards the agronomic valorization of olive pomace, to give birth to a clean olive growing which leads to a viable economy thus respecting a pillar of sustainable development. Several studies have shown the effectiveness of using olive pomace as a soil amendment. Therefore, in this study we want to increase the agricultural performance of olive pomace by composting by mixing it with other waste.
Morocco is considered one of the major olive-producing countries with an annual production of 1.41 million tonnes (MT), part of it is dedicated to olive oil production. Morocco produces approximately 26.8 MT of waste annually, 8.3 MT are household waste, 70% are organic household waste (5.8 MT). The current production of organic household waste in urban areas is estimated at 4.8 million tonnes per year, or an average of 0.76 kg hab-1 day-1, and in rural areas 1 million tonnes per year, or an average of 0.30 kg hab-1 day-1 (SNRVD, 2015). Agri-food industry waste is around 3 million tonnes with 600,000 to 700,000 tonnes of olive oil waste (pomace) (Agricultural Development Agency, 2018). The rejection of this waste without any prior treatment contributes to the environment deterioration. However, a large part of this waste remains recoverable, which would reduce both waste volume to be eliminated and the associated management cost. This; will contribute to reducing the negative impacts on receiving environments and the cost of restoring the environment state, and ensuring a transition towards a circular economy.Our work is part of the context of solid waste management and recovery, in particular organic waste from household and food-processing activities, and is oriented towards the pomace recovery by composting, mixing it with different percentages of organic household waste.
This work consists on composting olive pomace from the three phases system with another structural agent (organic household waste). Comparing the mixtures (6 treatments) with different concentrations in terms of composting process parameters (pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter temperature, etc.), organic matter evolution and composts quality, with manual aeration of the compost, in order to increase the agricultural yield of the olive pomace. Residues from the fermentation process can be used in agriculture. All the different mixtures of the different percentages are characterized at the initial state and at the end of the composting process in order to highlight their nutritional values.
Key words:
compost, olive pomace, organic household waste, physico-chimical and bacteriological characterization