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Biocontained Carcass Composting for Control of Infectious Disease Outbreak in Livestock
Published on: May 6, 2010
Changes in physicochemical property, microbial composition, and compost maturity of animal manure mixed peanut stalk
Qin He1, Menghan Wu2, Yufei Zeng1
1College of Life Science and Agri-forestry, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Composting and vermicomposting represent sustainable and environmentally friendly technologies that transform crop straw, livestock, and poultry manure into organic fertilizer. This study aimed to compare the changes in physicochemical parameters, compost maturity, and microbial community composition during composting and vermicomposting processes using peanut stalks mixed with varying proportions of cow dung, rabbit manure, and chicken manure. A 90-day composting and vermicomposting experiment was conducted with varying mass ratios of peanut stalks (PS), chicken manure (CM), cow dung (CD), and rabbit manure (RM). The organic matter degradation rate in vermicomposting treatments was significantly higher than that in composting treatments (P < 0.05). V1 (56.25% CM + 18.75% CD + 25% PS) showed the highest organic matter degradation rate of 45.91% among various vermicomposting treatments. Further analysis indicated that the nutrient content and seed germination rate (GI) of vermicomposting products were significantly higher than those of composting products. Among the treatments, the V1 group demonstrated optimal performance in total nitrogen, nitrate-N, and available phosphorus indices, with a 30.59% increase in seed germination rate compared to the V3 treatment. Additionally, V1 treatment demonstrated a significant superiority in larval population and cocoon yield (P < 0.05), indicating that it substantially promoted earthworm reproduction. At the genus level, this treatment significantly increased the relative abundance of Lutemimonas, Pseudomonas, BIrii41, and Subgroup_6. In summary, vermicomposting outperformed composting in both nutrient and microbial activity, with the V1 treatment yielding the highest quality vermicompost.
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