Abstract
Aerobic composting is a sustainable method for chicken manure recycling, while its unsuitable porosity and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N) may result in high nitrogen loss and incomplete composting. With the aim to investigate the effects of carbon-based additives and two ventilation rates on chicken manure composting and microbial community, two series of treatments were set up for chicken manure composting, in order to investigate their effects on the biodegradation process, ammonia (NH3) emission, nitrogen loss, physiochemical properties and microbial community. The results showed that additives and ventilation rates set in the current study influenced the carbon dioxide (CO2) production from the 2nd week and also the physiochemical parameters during the entire process, while no inhibitory effect on the maturity were observed. With woody peat as additive, the NH3 emission amount and nitrogen loss rate were shown as 15.86 mg and 4.02%, less than those in other treatments, 31.08–80.13 mg and 24.26–34.24%, respectively. The high aeration rate increased the NH3 emission and nitrogen loss, which were varied when the additives were different. The terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) results showed that the additives and the ventilation rates changed the microbial community, while the prominent microbial clones belonged to the class of Bacilli and Clostridia (in the phylum of Firmicutes), and Alphaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria (in the phylum of Proteobacteria). Bacillus spp. was observed to be the most dominant bacteria in all the composting stages and treatments. It was concluded that woody peat could improve chicken manure composting more than other additives, especially on reducing nitrogen loss, meanwhile 0.18 L‧min-1‧kg-1 DM was suitable for various additives. Therefore, suitable additive and aeration rate could be used in practical application, which could significantly reduce nitrogen loss without influence on the compos maturity process.
Highlights
Rapid decrease of organic matter (OM) and increase of cumulative CO2 amount coincided with the variation of temperature during composting [30]
Less CO2 emission amounts were observed when the ventilation rate was 0.36 L min-1 kg-1 DM in S1, S3 and S5 (Fig 2D), suggested that the 0.18 L min-1 kg-1 was more suitable for the composting process in the current study
The concentration of cellulose and lignin was higher in saw dust, pine bark and peanut hull, when compared with wheat straw, while cellulose and lignin were hard to be biodegraded directly
Summary
Carbon-based additives and ventilation rate influenced nitrogen loss and microbial community in composting one of the main causes of non-point source pollution threatening the environment (i.e. emissions to water and air) [2]. Aerobic composting shows potential for the conversion of the chicken manure into biofertilizers and reduce the potential pollution [3, 4]. Whereas the characteristics of poor porosity and low C/N ratio, limit the oxygen consumption and organic matter (OM) degradation, resulting in high nitrogen loss during chicken manure composting [5]. It is always of importance to improve the efficiency and product quality of chicken manure composting, by improving the selected materials and technique parameters
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