Effect of microaerobic fermentation in preprocessing fibrous lignocellulosic materials

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Soil Science
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Organic matter amendments enhance soil fertility and crop yields.
• Preprocessing organic materials may further increase these benefits.
• Fibrous lignocellulosic (FLC) materials are common in agricultural and logging waste.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficiency of microaerobic fermentation (MF), or Bokashi, in preprocessing FLC materials.
• To assess the impact of produce amendments and leachate treatments on MF efficiency.
• To determine if MF preprocessing improves the soil amendment properties of FLC materials.

Main Methods:

• Microaerobic fermentation (MF) of FLC materials with varying produce amendments.
• Analysis of leachate production, fermentation rates, and biological oxygen demand.
• Monitoring of polysaccharide (PS) concentrations, fragmentation, and degradation rates.
• Measurement of carbon loss as CO(2).

Main Results:

• Produce amendments increased leachate production and fermentation rates while decreasing leachate BOD.
• Continuous leachate drainage without recirculation led to acidification and reduced PS concentrations.
• PS fragmentation and metabolite stabilization occurred within 2-4 weeks.
• Approximately 2% of carbon was lost as CO(2).
• Post-fermentation PS degradation rates in soil were comparable to unfermented FLC.

Conclusions:

• Microaerobic fermentation (MF) is insufficient for adequately preprocessing FLC materials for soil amendment.
• The tested MF process did not enhance the soil amendment properties of FLC materials compared to unfermented FLC.