Effects of banana peel compost rates on Swiss chard growth performance and yield in Shirka district, Oromia, Ethiopia.

Increasing Population growth and expansion of urbanization lead to the emission of solid waste, including household waste, which causes environmental pollution. However, these wastes can be converted into forms used for organic farming. Therefore, the study was conducted to examine the effect of banana peel compost rates on the growth performance and yield of Swiss chard. The experiment took place in the Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center Greenhouse, with an area of 1.42m and pot area of 628cm. The randomization of both treatments and replication was done by using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Field and laboratory data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) by using general linear model (GLM) of the SAS statistical package version 9.0 to determine the existence of any statistical difference among the treatments. Soil and 10, 20, and30g rates of banana peel compost were characterized by a variety of plant nutrients. These include nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, micronutrients (iron, manganese, zinc, and molybdenum), power of hydrogen, organic carbon, and cat ion exchange capacity, carbon to nitrogen ratio, moisture content, and electrical conductivity. Each of plant nutrients were tested in the soil and banana peel compost rates(10, 20 and 30g), with nitrogen of 0.46, 1.54,1.93 and 2.58%; phosphorus of 1.51, 5.77, 5.8, and 5.91mg/kg, potassium of 11.82,41.28, 41.98, and 42.34mg/kg; calcium of 5.55, 25.04, 27.08, and 29.02mg/kg, magnesium of 6.2, 20.48, 22.88, and 23.93mg/kg; and sulfur of 5.79, 13.00, 14.38 and 16.45mg/kg/, respectively. Similarly, iron of 9.65, 15.72, 17.85, and 18.16mg/kg; manganese of 1.41, 4.23,6.38, and 8.91mg/kg; zinc of 1.17, 2.95, 4.25, and 5.60mg/kg; molybdenum of 0.53, 1.21,3.28, and 5.30mg/kg were tested, respectively. In addition to these, power of hydrogen was 6.34, 6.10, 6.22, and 7.30; organic carbon was 1.31, 15.0, 23.47, and 25.50%; carbon to nitrogen ratio was 2.85, 9.81, 12.16, and 9.88; cat ion exchange capacity was 21.08, 24.21, 34.58, and 36.94 (cmol (+) /kg; moister content was 5.75,7.24, 8.81, and 9.85%; and electrical conductivity was 0.11, 2.06, 3.23, and 4.09(ds/cm), respectively, for soil and 10, 20, and 30g rates of banana peel compost. The height of the plants, the number of leaves, the leaves area, the leaves area index (LAI), the length of the leaf and the width of the leaves were all parameters of Swiss chard growth performance based. Each of the Swiss Chard growth parameters was measured in 10g, 20g, and 30g treatments, with average plants height of 22.00, 24.67 and 26.33 cm, average leaves number of 9.00, 12.00 and 8.00, average leaves area of 111.33 and 134.30cmand average leaves width of 8.33, 10.80, and 12.77cm, respectively. Similarly, the mean leaves area index (LAI) was 0.10, 0.30, and 0.5; leaves length was 12.80, 13.00, and 14.67cm, respectively, for 10g, 20g, and 30g treatments. In addition to the Swiss chard growth parameters, the Swiss chard yield parameters have also been measured. Fresh and dry weights were the Swiss chard yield parameters. For each treatment (10g, 20g and 30g), fresh weights 2.44, 2.03 and 3.41g, and dry weights 0.11, 0.08 and 0.14g were recorded, respectively. In conclusion, all the rates of banana peel compost were enhanced and improved Swiss chard growth performance and yield, better than the no compost control.