Effects of the Biochemical Organic Fertilizer of Rice Husk Plus Wood Waste on Germination and Growth of Rice and Lentil Seeds to Prove its Non-Toxicity

Non-toxicity is one of the quality characteristics of organic fertilizer, and a simple method to evaluate the non-toxicity of compost is to check the germination of seeds in the wastewater obtained from soaking of organic fertilizer in distilled water compared to the germination of seeds in pure distilled water. This study aimed to estimate the non-toxicity of biochemical fertilizers produced from rice husks plus wood waste and its effects on germination and growth variables in pot culture on the germination of rice and lentil seeds. The cultivation experiment was conducted in an enclosed room. In the examination of germination, the ratio of lentil germination in the wastewater obtained from soaking organic fertilizer in distilled water compared to pure distilled water was 83.3% and 97% after one and seven days, respectively. For rice seeds, this factor reached 98.5% after seven days, and all these results indicate the non-toxicity of the treatment environments resulting from the wastewater separated from the organic fertilizer soaked into distilled water. Next, the results of the second stage experiments showed that rice and lentil seeds in the sandy soil environment with the organic fertilizer have a significant positive effect on the germination and growth of the sprouts, both in terms of germination and growth rate. Similarly, other properties such as increased growth, root, and stem length, the number of leaves, the number of roots, the wet and dry weight of 10 plants, and also the effectiveness of the fertilizer in preventing the spoilage of plants in the cultivation environments containing percentages of rice husk plus wood waste fertilizer were higher than the sandy soil without fertilizer. These results indicate that the discussed biochemical organic fertilizer obtained from rice husks with wood waste has a desirable non-toxic quality for rice and lentil germination and growth.