title: Inoculation of Pichia kudriavzevii RB1 degrades the organic acids present in raw compost material and accelerates composting.
abstract: In this study, the yeast strain Pichia kudriavzevii RB1 was used as an inoculum to accelerate organic matter degradation of rabbit food with added organic acids, which was used as a model food waste for composting. The RB1 strain rapidly degraded the organic acids present in the raw compost material, leading to an increase in pH beyond the neutral level, within 2 days. Both mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria proliferated faster in the compost with RB1 inoculation than in that without inoculation. Although the yeast died with the increase in compost temperature, it affected the early stages of composting prior to the thermophilic stage and accelerated the composting process by 2 days by eliminating the initial lag phase seen in the growth of other microorganisms. Moreover, populations of Bacillus thermoamylovorans, Bacillus foraminis, and Bacillus coagulans became dominant during the thermophilic stages of both composting with and without RB1 inoculation.
authors.affiliation: Department of International Development Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo, Japan. nakasaki@ide.titech.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kiyohiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakasaki
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Araya
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mimoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001407:Bacillus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D002264:Carboxylic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010843:Pichia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011817:Rabbits; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002264:Carboxylic Acids; D012987:Soil; D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: Acceleration of organic matter degradation; Composting; Inoculation; Microorganisms; Pichia kudriavzevii