Brewed tea waste promote growth of Vigna unguiculata L. seedlings: Scope of tea waste usage in germination bed industry

Alfia Pulickeel Vahid, Simmy Sunil, Rosmy Mathew, Abin Sebastian

The conversion of tea wastes in to a commercial asset ensures sustainable agriculture. In the present study, the growth of Vigna unguiculata L. seedlings were monitored on germination media contains black tea and milk tea wastes respectively. The addition of tea waste helped to increase soil pH whereas there was no change in conductivity of soil solution. The presence of tea waste resulted in an increase in size of vegetative parts, lateral roots and biomass respectively. Plant growth promoting effects of tea waste at molecular level was reflected as an increase of chlorophyll a content. However, there was no change in accumulation of chlorophyll b and carotenoids. Similar results noticed after treatment with vermicompost too. It predicted that more plant available nitrogen account for above changes. Thus, we concluded that tea waste can be an alternative for vermicompost to prepare germination beds.

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