Lande Satish Devram, Sahoo P K, Livleen Shukla and Indra Mani
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi has developed various mechanical cum microbial interventions for rice residue management. Mechanical interventions such as windrow composting using compost turner cum mixer, paddy straw collector cum chopper, sensor based microbial inoculum spraying system and integrated seeder cum microbial inoculum applicator were developed for rapid and efficient decomposition of rice residues using fungal microbial consortium. It was found that spraying of microbial inoculum showed significant variations in after 20 days of decomposition of rice residue for selected spray parameters. The rapid residue decomposition were observed by maintaining VMD of 347 to 243μm, NMD of 87.08 to 75.41 μm and droplet density of 250.2 to 403.9 droplets/cm2. A systematic protocol for rapid decomposition developed using compost turner cum mixer through windrow composting. Three number of turning at interval of minimum 15 days were required for enhanced decomposition were optimized. A paddy straw collector–cum chopper was designed for in-situ straw management. Straw load ranging between 5-10 T/ ha was suitable for collection of more than 90% of straw with chopping efficiency of 60 % to maintain straw size < 5 cm in order to enhance in-situ decomposition. An integrated seeder cum microbial inoculum applicator was developed for in-situ residue management. The machine carries different operations like cutting, roto-tilling, inoculum application and seeding in one go. These integrated mechanical cum microbial interventions are not only recycle agricultural residues like rice but provided economical and eco-friendly solution for sustainable agricultural waste management.
