Vol. 9, Special Issue 12, Part M (2025)

A field experiment entitled "Effect of crop residue mixtures and decomposing culture on quality of compost" was conducted at the Centre for Organic Agriculture Research and Training Farm, Department of Agronomy, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola (Maharashtra) during the year 2023. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design with crop residue mixtures i.e. CR1-cotton stalk (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%), CR2-soybean straw (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%), CR3-wheat straw (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%) and CR4-raw FYM (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%) with three cultures which comprised PDKV culture, CIRCOT culture and jeevamrut culture. The combinations of twelve treatments were replicated three times. Samples were analyzed for pH, EC, total carbon, ash per cent, total NPK and microbial dynamics. The end of decomposition was judged by changes in colour, texture and C:N ratio of these decomposing materials. In case of chemical properties, CR4-raw FYM (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%) recorded maximum decrease in pH (7.23), total carbon (19.25%), C:N ratio (18.65), maturity days (110) and increase in ash (66.8%). CR2-soybean straw (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%) recorded significantly highest EC (1.38), N (1.23%) and P (0.56%). Significantly highest K content (1.10%) was recorded in crop residue mixture CR1-cotton stalk (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%), CR2-soybean straw (50%) + weed biomass (10%) + leaf litter (10%) + cowdung slurry (30%). Among the decomposing cultures, PDKV culture recorded accelerated decomposition with the earliest maturity (123 days), maintained a relatively lower pH (7.25) and carbon content (19.93%) at maturity and higher EC (1.39 dS m^-1), and consistently recorded higher ash content (64.75%), and greater enrichment of N (1.05%), P (0.56%), and K (90.93%) throughout the decomposition process.