Investigating the Effect of Waste Process of Halva Ardeh Production on Vermicompost Quality

Introduction: Currently, the conversion of waste from industrial processes to compost through vermicompost has been considered both in terms of health, environmental pollution, and economy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of waste process of Halva Ardeh production on vermicompost quality. Materials and Methods: To determine the best combination of cow manure with Halva Ardeh processing waste according to national standard vermicompost methods; different percentages of cow manure and Halva Ardeh waste, were prepared for vermicompost during 90 days. SPSS software and ANOVA test were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that during the process of vermicompost, pH initially increased in all treatments and then decreased significantly from the third week afterwards (p ≤ 0.001). Also, the average organic carbon percentage (OC) decreased in all treatments significantly (p = 0.02) and the highest amount of OC was obtained in the control treatment and the lowest amount was related to 1C: 1S treatment. The trend of electrical conductivity changes in all substrates with different treatments was generally decreasing and this decrease was statistically significant (p = 0.035). Furthermore, the amount of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) in all treatments decreased and the average C/N in the control treatment was 56.8% and in the 1C: 1S treatment was 16.9% and this difference was statistically significant (P = 0.023). Conclusion: Based on our findings, the compost quality of this study confirms to the standards of compost class A. This method can be used to convert the waste from Halva Ardeh production on vermicompost qulity.