Abstract:
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is crucial for sugar and ethanol production, with the
remaining plant material known as sugarcane trash in which slow decomposition impedes field
productivity. Therefore, this study aims to accelerate this process using Trichoderma asperellum
mixing with cattle manure, and High-Graded Eppawala Rock Phosphate (HERP) in water. An
experimental pit consisted of 1kg of sugarcane trash collected from the Gal-Oya Plantations (Pvt)
Ltd, Hingurana, Ampara, Sri Lanka. A preprepared Trichoderma mixing solution was used in
treatments as 2 mL (T1), 4 mL (T2), 6 mL (T3), and with no supplement in the control (C) with
equal amounts of cattle manure (50 g), and HERP (5 g) in 100 mL water and they were applied to
the surface of trash. Each treatment consisted of 3 replicates in RCBD design. Three samples in
each treatment were taken at 21 days, 42 days, and 56 days for the analysis. The moisture content
(MC%), total organic carbon (%), organic matter content (%), were measured in trash while odor,
color, pH, EC, and MC%, were measured as the parameters in treatments underlined soil in pits to
see the effect of treatments on soil surface. The treatments underlined soil exhibited an
unchanged soil color and a pleasant odor while there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in
MC%, pH and EC of them at all stages. The control exhibited the highest TOC% at both 21 days
(34.63±4.85) and 42 days (22.46±0.615), whereas T1 displayed the lowest TOC% at both stages
(21 days: 19.09±3.22; 42 days: 16.79±2.15). However, there was no significant difference in TOC%
among the treatments at 56 days. Significant differences (P < 0.05) in OM% were observed
between the control and T1 at both 21 days (control: 34.63±3.85; T1: 32.84±5.54) and 42 days
(control: 38.64±1.06; T1: 28.87±3.7) while no significant difference in OM% was observed among
the treatments at 56 days. These findings suggest that T1 initially exhibited higher decomposition
rates compared to the control, but this difference diminished by the 56th day of the study.
Therefore, it is concluded that T1 can be effectively used in accelerating sugarcane trash
decomposition at early stages.
