Dr. Aparna B. Gunjal
Department of Microbiology, Dr. D. Y. Patil, Arts, Commerce and Science College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Doctor/ PhD Member,
Institut de diplomatie publique
The generation of wastes is a major issue in many countries. There are different types of wastes viz., food, electronic waste (e-waste), agricultural, household, industrial, etc. Majority of the wastes is disposed directly to the landfills or incinerated without any treatment. This results in pollution of the environment and also has harmful effects on the human health. It is the need of the hour for the proper and disposal of different wastes.
The proper management and disposal methods of wastes need to be taken into serious consideration. The solid state fermentation (SSF) is the process which makes use of beneficial microorganisms, called plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and can be used to convert the wastes into many value-added products viz., enzymes, plant growth promoting substances, animal feed, single cell protein (SCP), compost, etc.
This SSF requires substrate, which can include any of the following viz., bagasse, rice husk, wheat straw, peanut shell, sawdust, corn cob, sawdust, pressmud, coconut husk, orange peel, etc. for the fermentation. These substrates are generated in large amount which are actually wastes and pill up in the surroundings. So, using these wastes as substrates in SSF, they can be converted into useful products. The SSF process has many advantages viz., economical, eco-friendly, easy and sustainable approach. The SSF is a biological process and hence this totally reduces the use of any chemicals. This also helps in the management of wastes generated.
The SSF is a novel approach for value-added products. Although, there are various methods for the management of wastes, but converting wastes into value-added products by SSF is very effective and also simple. This is also termed as “Wealth from Wastes”.
Also, another advantage of SSF is use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria which are beneficial microorganisms as they are known to produce plant growth substances viz., siderophores (iron chelating compounds), indole acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins, cytokinins, ammonia (NH3), enzymes, phosphorus and potassium solubilization, etc. and hence helpful for the plant growth. The management of wastes by biological process needs to focused and implemented in all countries so as to have clean approach.
Key words: Economical, Eco-friendly, Solid State Fermentation, Sustainable, Vale-added products