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Chapter One of Experimental Investigation of Macronutrient Content of Cassava Peel Composted Agricultural Soil
Abstract of Experimental Investigation of Macronutrient Content of Cassava Peel Composted Agricultural Soil
Cassava processing produce large amount of waste (cassava peel as the major by-product) and is generally considered to contribute significantly to environmental pollution. In spite of all the important agricultural and nutritional roles played by cassava, its food value and waste (cassava peels) is greatly compromised by the presence of endogenous cyanogenic glycosides; linamarin and lautrstralin which under several prevailing tropical condition is readily hydrolysed to liberate hydrogen cyanide,transferred into a solution and subsequently deteriorate the ground water and crop quality. Hence the need to investigate the effect of cassava peels compost on the macronutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) content of agricultural soils on which they are dumped using composting.
After digestion of the soil samples (compost soil and control soil) the concentration of hydrogen cyanide was deduce using titrimetric method, the pH was obtained using pH meter and the macronutrient contentย (potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus) was obtain using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer, UV spectrophotometer and vanadomolybdo phosphoric method.ย The analysis result shows that the amendment (cassava peel) used for composting slightly increase the cyanide concentration, potassium content and drastically reduce the major macronutrient(nitrogen and phosphorus) and the pH of the soil thereby making the soil strongly acidic and unhealthy for plant growth. It was observed from the result that the cyanide concentration in the compost soil increase as the rate of decomposition of the cassava peel present in the compost increases. The result obtained; for phosphorus and cyanide a zero order reaction and the rate constant was observe to be 0.012and 0.467ย using the method of determination of order and rate constant stated in the literature.
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