Crop Growth Enhancement: Investigating The Significance Of Tea Waste Compost Applied As Organic Fertilizer On The Growth Response Of Maize (Zea Mays) Plant

Recycling and reuse can effectively manage the enormous amount of organic solid waste produced in a nation with a dense population, like Bangladesh, especially if the waste has potential value but there haven’t been many strategies employed to deal with these problems. In that light, the goal of this study was to recycle tea waste while using it as organic fertilizer to boost crop productivity. To prepare compost, tea waste (TW) was collected from various locations within the two municipal corporations of Dhaka City. The compost was then applied to Zea mays plants at different treatment levels with a fixed amount of soil (T0 – Control, T1 – basal dose of fertilizers/15 kg soil, T2 – 4.5 kg TW/15 kg soil, T3 – 6.0 kg TW/15 kg soil, and T4 – 7.5 kg TW/15 kg soil), and the plant growth against the doses were observed for six consecutive weeks. The study discovered that, compared to the control (T0) and conventional chemical fertilizers (T1), the plants displayed a promising growth response in the remaining treatments (T2, T3, and T4) where only TW compost was applied, with the highest growth in treatment T4. Treatment T4 even displayed an early bloom of tassels within the sixth week of observation. Significant differences (p values 0.05) between and within each treatment group were found by statistical analysis (one-way ANOVA). Composting and recycling TW may have potential uses in agriculture and could be a feasible means to achieve zero waste emissions, according to the study’s findings.