In situ decomposition of crop residues using lignocellulolytic microbial consortia: a viable alternative to residue burning

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2021-07, Vol.28 (25), p.32416-32433
• Main Authors: Bhattacharjya, Sudeshna, Sahu, Asha, Phalke, D. H., Manna, Madhab Chandra, Thakur, Jyoti Kumar, Mandal, Asit, Tripathi, Awadhesh Kumar, Sheoran, Parvender, Choudhary, Madhu, Bhowmick, Anirban, Rahman, Mohammad Mahmudur, Naidu, Ravi, Patra, Ashok K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air pollution; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Burning; Cellulose; Climate change; Comparative studies; Crop residues; Crop yield; Crops; Decomposition; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Emissions; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental impact; Environmental impact assessment; Environmental science; Farm buildings; Global warming; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Microorganisms; Nutrients; Phosphorus pentoxide; Pollutants; Research Article; Residues; Rice; Sugarcane; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Wheat
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-12611-8

Open field burning of crop residue causes severe air pollution and greenhouse gas emission contributing to global warming. In order to seek an alternative, the current study was initiated to explore the prospective of lignocellulolytic microbes to expedite in situ decomposition of crop residues. Field trials on farmers’ field were conducted in the state of Haryana and Maharashtra, to target the burning of rice and wheat residue and sugarcane trash, respectively. A comparative study among crop residue removal (CRR), crop residue burning (CRB) and in situ decomposition of crop residues (IND) revealed that IND of rice and wheat residues took 30 days whereas IND of sugarcane trash took 45 days. The decomposition status was assessed by determining the initial and final lignin to cellulose ratio which increased significantly from 0.23 to 0.25, 0.21 to 0.23 and 0.24 to 0.27 for rice, wheat residues and sugarcane trash, respectively. No yield loss was noticed in IND for both rice-wheat system and sugarcane-based system; rather IND showed relatively better crop yield as well as soil health parameters than CRB and CRR. Furthermore, the environmental impact assessment of residue burning indicated a substantial loss of nutrients (28–31, 23–25 and 51–77 kg ha −1 of N+P 2 O 5 +K 2 O for rice, wheat and sugarcane residue) as well as the emission of pollutants to the atmosphere. However, more field trials, as well as refinement of the technology, are warranted to validate and establish the positive potential of in situ decomposition of crop residue to make it a successful solution against the crop residue burning.