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Study on Use of Fruit Peels Powder as a Fertilizer

Conference Paper · November 2016

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 Study on Use of Fruit Peels Powder as a Fertilizer
Hiral J.Jariwala1, Huma S.Syed2*
1
PG Student of Environmental Management at L.D. College of Engineering,
Ahmedabad-380015, Gujarat, India
JARIWALAHJ@YAHOO.COM
2*
Associate Professor at Department of Environmental Engineering, L.D. College of Engineering,
Ahmedabad-380015, Gujarat, India
HUMASYED67@GMAIL.COM

Abstract: Fertilizers are any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin [other than liming
materials] that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of the plants. Fruits
contain a high amount of antioxidants that are beneficial to our health in many ways. The present study deals with
the utilization of fruit peels for the effective growth of plants and higher yield, by mainly focussing on Nitrogen,
Phosphorous and Potassium. Different fruit peels such as Pomegranate, Orange, Sweet lime and Banana were
used. Generally fruit peels are thrown in garbage and it goes to solid waste dumping site. That causes odour
problem due to degradation of peel content in dumping site. These fruit peels have nutrients like potash, iron,
zinc, calcium, citrate content etc. Fruit peel powders are used as natural fertilizer in the present study. Fruit peels
were collected from fruit juice vendors. Generally around 15-20 kg of fruit peel was collected per fruit juice
vendor. Those fruit peels were properly segregated on-site and made separate for drying. Fruit peels were dried in
natural sunlight for 21 to 25 days and dry peel powder was made by grinding. Different formulation of fruit peel
powder was used to compare the plant growth. Each formulation was mixed with water in different quantities.
There are two types of fruit peel powder like a) citrate peel powder which consists of orange, sweet lime and
pomegranate peel and b) alkaline peel powder consisting of banana peel. Both type of peel powder have different
pH. Generally alkaline peel powder is used for reducing acidity content present in soil. Similarly, acidic peel
reduces salinity of soil. The final results of the study showed that Citric Peel powder has higher Nitrogen
content(9.1 mg/g), whereas Alkaline Peel powder has higher quantity of Phosphorous(4.2 mg/g) and
Potassium(2.1 mg/g). This proves that the powder can be feasibly used as a Soil Fertilizer, pH regulator (for
improving soil morphology), as micronutrient supplement (zinc, iron, calcium), and also for horticultural
purposes. By experimenting fruit peel formulation pH; we can quantify how much amount of different powder is
required for that particular soil. For cultivation of different fruits like Banana, Orange, Sweet Lime, Pomegranate
etc., these peels can be used. This fruit peel materials have no cost bearing and thus aids in converting this waste
into a usable resource.

Keyword: Fruit peel; Fertilizer; Supportive nutrients; pH Regulator

1. Introduction 2. Methodology

Fruit peels are good source of nutrients like potash, Generally fruit peels are collected from fruit juice
calcium, iron, zinc etc. There are two types of fertilizer vendors in Ahmedabad market. Fruit peels, which are
used in agriculture. Organic fertilizer contains different thrown in garbage by household or vendors. These fruit
antioxidants and carbonaceous matter. Inorganic peels are collected from vendors and removed
fertilizer is usually wholly manufactured, as in case of unnecessary substances from that. There are four types
sulphate of ammonia; or they may be processed from of fruit peels like Orange, Banana, Sweet Lime and
quarries. These are cheapest and harmless materials are Pomegranate which are shown figure 1.
used for plant growth. The present study deals with the
utilization of fruit peels for the effective growth of
plants and higher yield. Different fruit peels such as
Pomegranate, Orange, Sweet lime and Banana were
used.
 A B
C D
Fig 1. Collection Of different fruit peels; A. Orange,
B. Sweet Lime, C. Pomegeranate, D. Banana
As shown in Figure 2 fruit peels were collected from
fruit juice vendors were segregated first. So differenr
fruit peels can be used on field as pr requirements of
pH and nutrients.
Fig 2. Process flow chart for fruit peel powder
After segregated fruit peels were dried in natural
sunlight for 21 to 25 days on terrace. After drying of
different fruit peels there were further classified in to
two types . First mixture was done by grinding of
Citrate fruit peel like orange , sweet lime, pomegranate
and second mixture was done by grinding of banana
peel alone which are shown in Figure 3(A and B). This
was done because banana peel contain potash which is
alkaline in nature.
Fig 3. A. Citrate peel powder(Orange+Sweet
Lime+pomegranate), B. Alkaline banana peel
powder
3. Comparative study of different fruit peel powder
and fruit peel extract
Preparation of Fruit Peel Extract
Different formulation of fruit peel powder was used to
compare the plant growth. Each formulation was
mixed with water in different quantities. 1g of fruit
peel powder of citrate peels like pomegranate, orange,
sweet lime were taken in 100 ml of distilled water and
mixed thoroughly for the preparation of extract. This
mixture was stirred for 3 days by using magnetic
stirrer (3 days because powder of fruit peel can’t
diluted simply in water. After study of experiments,
the optimum time of proper dilution is 3 day ). This
was considered as F1. Same procedures is also done by
Alkaline Banana peel powder and make solution like
F1 which is shown in Table 1.
 Table 1: Quantity of fruit peel powder used for the 5. Conclusion
preparation of Fruit Peel formulations
By using this fertilizer we can reduce load of solid
Sr. Type of Content Formulation of waste due to fruit peel waste. We know that amount is
No. Fruit Peel fruit peel very small. But utilisation of peel is too important. By
1 Citrate peel 1g 1 g + 100 mL water mixing of both citrate and alkaline peel powder we can
powder reach up to maximum nutrient content. The use of fruit
2 Alkaline peel 1g 1 g + 100 mL water
peel powder is:
powder
 pH regulator for soil
pH of different formulation of fruit peel
 Improve soil morphology
Assessment of pH is required for maintain pH of soil  Fulfils requirements of Micronutrient
otherwise it becomes acidic or alkaline. For  Best use for Horticulture
assessment of pH glass electrode pH meter is used.
(Reference [3])
6. References
Table 2: Assessment of pH of different fruit peel
[1] Mercy S, Muchira Banu S, Jenifer I “Application
Sr No. Type of Fruit peel pH of different fruit peel formulation as a natural
Formulation fertilizer for plant growth” IJSTR journal page
1 Orange peel 5.8 301-302, Volume 3, ISSUE 1, JANUARY 2014
2 Sweet Lime peel 6.4 ISSN 2277-8616
3 Pomegranate peel 4.8 [2] Tewari HK, Marwaha SS & Rupal K (1986)
4 Banana peel 7.9 Ethanol from Banana peels, Agric Wastes 16: 135-
5 Citrate peel powder 6.1
146
6 Alkaline peel powder 7.9
[3] K. V. Harivaindaran, O.P.S Rebecca and S.
Chandran “Study on Optimal Temperature, pH and
By this experiment fruit peel formulation pH; we can
quantify how much amount of different powder stability of Dragon Fruit(Hylocereus polyrhizus)
required for that particular soil. peel for Use as Potential Natural Colorant”
Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 11 (18):
4. Result 2259-2263, 2008, ISSN 1028-8880.

For analysis of fruit peel powder mainly three

parameters are measured: Nitrogen, Phosphorus and ***********
Potassium. For analysis of nitrogen Total Kjeldah
Nitrogen (TKN) method is used, for phosphorus
colorimetric method is used and for potassium flame
photometry is used. All results are as below:

Sr Name of N P K
no. formulation (mg/g) (mg/g) (mg/g)
1 Citrate peel 9.1 2.7 1.6
powder
2 Alkaline peel 5.5 4.2 2.1
powder

Both different peels are used for control pH of soil.

Where citrate peel powder is used to decrease pH of
soil and alkaline peel powder is used to increase pH of
soil. (Reference [1], [2])

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