Effect of a commercial microbiological additive on beef manure compost in the composting process

Abstract

ABSTRACT We observed the effects of a commercial microbiological additive (MA) on the beef manure composting process and investigated the changes in its physical and chemical components and microbial populations in the composting process. When beef manure compost was inoculated with the MA, its temperature rapidly increased at the beginning of the process, and after the first turning, the ammonia emission from the compost pile and nitrate production decreased quicker than that in the composting process without the MA. During the composting process, the manure inoculated with MA showed a larger numbers of mesophilic and thermophilic aerobes, and a smaller number of thermophilic anaerobes than in the process without the MA. These results suggested that mesophilic aerobes increased in number and metabolized ammonia by assimilation rather than nitrification to accelerate the temperature elevation in the composting process with the MA.