Using Banana Peel as Fertilizer

Group 4
Francheska,Fiona,Faith,Janver,Uriel,Aleanna,Angeli
_____________________________________________

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

_______________________________________________
Introduction