Significance of vinasses waste management in agriculture and environmental quality- Review

Vinasse is a waste material from distillery industries which has lot of organic and inorganic loads. It is utilized in agriculture  for  cheap  nutrients  source,  ameliorating  agents  and  animal  feed  beyond  the limitation of high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD; 46100 to 96000 mgL-1), chemical oxygen demand (COD; 104000 to 134400 mgL-1) and total dissolved salts (30.5 to 45.2 dSm-1) content even after the pollutant removal treatments. Vinasse treatments with combined approach of aerobic and anaerobic methods are more effective by both cost and pollutant on removal efficiency. Optimized dose of vinasse application has significance over soil properties, crop qualities and yield improvement. Globally, it has high potential to substitute potassium and nitrogen nutrients to the present level of annual consumption. It also contributes a substantial amount of phosphorous, calcium, sulphur and micronutrients to crops. In developed countries, starchy vinasse used as animal feed on a lean season to animals that improved the feed digestibility and animal quality where feed shortages are experienced. However, inadequate knowledge of vinasse properties and mode of utilization in agriculture questioned environmental quality for ground water pollution. Further research is needed to be strengthened for increased pollutant removal efficiency and diversified utilization in different cropping system (temporal scale) for effective utilization and safe disposal to the ecosystem. This article aimed to give the vinasse kinds and their characteristics features, soil-vinases interaction mechanism and its influence on plant, soil and water quality as consequence in agriculture.   Key words: Chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), eco-friendly, utilization, environmental quality.