Investigation of Enzyme Activities during Composting of Soiled Cotton Waste
A. Patnaik *
School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University, Odisha, India
L. Naik
School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University, Odisha, India
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Huge amount of soiled cotton waste is being produced by utilization of sanitary napkins by the women who have attained puberty. An attempt has been made to manage these wastes through composting and vermicomposting. Enzyme activities were studied during the composting and vermicomposting of soiled sanitary napkins. The highest protease (354.356 µg/g/hr), urease (0.104 µg/g/hr), amylase (119.08 µg/g/hr) and cellulase (170.13 µg/g/hr) activity was observed in vermicomposting sets. There was significant increase (p<0.001) in the enzyme activity in the vermicomposting and composting sets as compared to control.
Keywords: Composting, vermicomposting, urease, protease, amylase, cellulose