The Effectiveness of Fertilizer Mixture Composed of Banana Peel, Eggshell,

and Coffee Ground to the Growth of Onion

A Thesis Concept Paper

Presented to
The Faculty of Senior High School Department
Naga College Foundation, Inc.
Naga City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in Capstone Project and Research in Daily Life
2

Boncodin, Mikki Rose

Capagas, Gabriel James G.
Molina, Crisel A.
Pervera, Karyll Gwyneth F.
Reduta, Mikylla G.
Vergara, Kurt Russel V.

Grade 12 – Tapeinos
Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics (STEM)

2023
Rationale of the Study

Plant nutrients included in food waste mostly come from agriculture. Agricultural
land has to be compensated for the loss of these nutrients in order to keep it fertile. An
alternative fertilizer rapidly becoming more widely used by both conventional and organic
farmers in Sweden is anaerobically digested food waste (Sverige, 2013). According to
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Volume 95, the use of chemical fertilizers and
incineration of food waste proved to make a better net contribution to primary energy,
lower the GWP and cause less eutrophication and acidification than digestion of the food
waste and use of the digestate as fertilizer. If improvements in the digestion system are
implemented successfully, digestate as fertilizer could be better than chemical fertilizer in
terms of lowered GWP and use of non-renewable phosphate rock.
The three basic components of fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
is represented on fertilizer labels as NPK (Hussein, 2014). Potassium supports plants in
the transportation of nutrients and water between cells. Potassium strengthens plant
stems and protects them from disease. Potassium can also help plants endure drought.
Plants grow poorly in general when there is insufficient potassium. Nitrogen is the main
constituent of protein for plants, although most of the nitrogen elements in nature are
“inert" so they cannot be used directly by plants. In fact, nitrogen has an important role
in encouraging rapid plant growth, improving crop yields and quality of plants. Phosphorus
is a constituent of plant cells, essential for cell division and development of the growing
tip of the plant. For this reason it is vital for seedlings and young plants.
Banana peels are beneficial to gardens because they contain 42% potassium. This
means that banana peels, which are high in potassium, are good for plants like vegetables,
chilies, and flowers. Banana peels also contain calcium and manganese, which helps
tomatoes avoid blossom end, improves photosynthesis, and sodium, aids water movement
between cells (Barbano, 2020).
Eggshell are only waste that has no economic value it contains about 2.2 grams
of calcium in form of calcium carbonate. Eggshell contains 0.3% phosphorus and 0.3%
magnesium and small amount of sodium, potassium, zinc, manganese, iron and copper.
Eggshell high calcium content help to active the formation of root and seed hairs and
strengthen the stems. It can be used to neutralize adverse soil conditions and
compounds.. Eggshell flour resulted in an average NPK percentage of N=0.675%,
P=49.53%, and K=0.767%. Producing organic fertilizer reduce the amount of waste that
can cause environmental pollution (Anugrah, 2021).
Coffee Ground has toxic properties to the environment such as caffeine, tannins,
and polyphenols. Chemicals contained on coffee grounds are 2.28 % nitrogen, 0.06 %
phosphorus , 0.6 % potassium that has good impact to the soil (Febrian, 2021).

Statement of the Problem

This research will focus on testing the Effectiveness of Fertilizer Mixture

Composed of Banana Peel, Eggshell, and Coffee Ground to the Growth of Onions.
Thus, this study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How can the fertilizer affect the growth of the plant in terms of:
 a. Height
b. Foliage color
c. Number of onion produced
2. Is the fertilizer mixture an effective fertilizer alternative?
3. Is it feasible to every household?

Methodology

This study will use an experimental research method to determine the

effectiveness of the fertilizer mixture composed of banana peel, eggshell, and coffee
grounds by planting two groups of onions. The first group has a fertilizer mixture called
experimental, and the second group has no fertilizer mixture called control, but the two
groups will be planted at the same time. Both groups have ten onions that will be planted.
The experiment will start on Jan 30, 2023, and will be done at home to show everyone
can do it. The first thing that the researchers will do is to make the fertilizer mixture by
drying the banana peel, eggshell, and coffee ground. Next, pulverize them and mix them
with a ratio of 1:1:1 cups. Afterward, the fertilizer mixture will be added to the
experimental group, and it will be combined on top of the soil where the onions will be
planted. The researchers will take care of the plant daily to ensure its proper growth. The
result of this experiment will show after 60-70 days. To analyze the results, the
researchers will compare the growth and the number of onions produced by the
experimental and the controlled group using a t-test for an independent sample.
 Note

Anugrah, R. D., & Safahi, L. (2021, April). The effect of eggshell organic fertilizer
on vegetative growth of cayenne pepper (Capsicum frutescens L). In IOP
Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 755, No. 1, p. 012001).
IOP Publishing.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/755/1/012001/meta

Febrian, P. A., & Masjud, Y. I. (2022). The Study of Composting from Spent Coffee
Grounds in Making Process Liquid Fertilizer. Journal of Environmental
Engineering and Waste Management, 7(2), 107-124.
http://ejournal.president.ac.id/presunivojs/index.php/JENV/article/view/12

Chiew, Y. L., Spångberg, J., Baky, A., Hansson, P. A., & Jönsson, H. (2015).
Environmental impact of recycling digested food waste as a fertilizer in
agriculture—A case study. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 95, 114.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092134491400264

Barbano, P (2020). "Banana peels are good for gardens". Cape Gazette.
https://www.capegazette.com/article/banana-peels-are-good gardens/202889

Hussein, M. M., & Alva, A. K. (2014). Growth, yield and water use effeciency of
forage sorghum as affected by NPK fertilizer and deficit irrigation. American
Journal of Plant Sciences, 2014.
https://www.scirp.org/html/32-2601385_47517.htm