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It is reported that at least 22 human diseases are associated with solid wastes. (Arne, Jeffery & Arber 1982). Therefore continuous disposal of solid waste and their collection creates a severe environmental and health hazard. As such, it is of utmost importance to avoid this problem before it is too late to do anything about it. In Sri Lanka the major percentage of municipal solid waste consist of organic waste. Hence one way of overcoming this problem is to increase the rate of degradation of organic material in which enzyme and microorganisms play a big role. Mother enzyme (ME) is said to be one such mixture of enzymes and microorganisms.
Objectives of this research was to identify the constituents of the ME, to determine the effectiveness of the ME on degradation of different types of organic wastes, and to determine the effective levels of ME for different types of organic wastes.
Laboratory experiments were done at the Department of Forestry & Environmental Science, Department of Microbiology of Faculty of Medicine and the Food Science Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U-Test and Wilcoxon’s Signed Rank Test.
Macconkey agar, Nutrient agar, and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar were used to find the total number and the types of micro-organisms present in the ME , Effect of Mother enzyme on different types of organic waste were done by using farm (cattle and poultry) waste, Kitchen wasted and Fruit industry wastes in the presence and in the absence of ME with replication. Weight reduction with time was noted down. To estimate the effect of ME on model organic waste, wheat flour, Egg Yolk and coconut oil were used Alanine, Glucose and Acid value estimation were done to estimate the rate of degradation of one above macro molecules in the presence of and in the absence of ME. In order to find out the effective levels of ME. Farm (cattle and poultry), Kitchen wastes and
Fruit industry wastes were used with replication. 2g/1kg and 0.5g/1kg of mother Enzyme was given and weight reduction was noted down.
From the Microbiological analysis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Mucor, were found to be present in ME and the total number of cells present was 13x101 g-1. Since it was unexpected to find E. coli in Mother Enzyme we can conclude that E. coli has come into the sample by some kind of contamination that has occurred either in the original sample of Mother Enzyme we used as the test material or the during laboratory testing Presence of Mucor, common contaminant fungi is also surprising.
From the study it was found that the breakdown of model organic matter-fats and proteins occur quite fast in the presence of mother enzyme. But breaking down of carbohydrates is not accelerated significantly by mother enzymes.
Increase or decrease levels Of ME have no significant effect on mixed organic waste due to our consumption pattern most of organic waste generated in Sri Lanka are of carbohydrates origin. This may be the reason why there is no significant effect due to ME on different organic waste found in Sri Lanka.
