title: Co-composting of livestock manure with rice straw: characterization and establishment of maturity evaluation system.
abstract: Composting is considered to be a primary treatment method for livestock manure and rice straw, and high degree of maturity is a prerequisite for safe land application of the composting products. In this study pilot-scale experiments were carried out to characterize the co-composting process of livestock manure with rice straw, as well as to establish a maturity evaluation index system for the composts obtained. Two pilot composting piles with different feedstocks were conducted for 3 months: (1) swine manure and rice straw (SM-RS); and (2) dairy manure and rice straw (DM-RS). During the composting process, parameters including temperature, moisture, pH, total organic carbon (TOC), organic matter (OM), different forms of nitrogen (total, ammonia and nitrate), and humification index (humic acid and fulvic acid) were monitored in addition to germination index (GI), plant growth index (PGI) and Solvita maturity index. OM loss followed the first-order kinetic model in both piles, and a slightly faster OM mineralization was achieved in the SM-RS pile. Also, the SM-RS pile exhibited slightly better performance than the DM-RS according to the evolutions of temperature, OM degradation, GI and PGI. The C/N ratio, GI and PGI could be included in the maturity evaluation index system in which GI>120% and PGI>1.00 signal mature co-composts.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan; Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shanghai 200233, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shanghai 200233, China.
authors.forename: Genxiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shanghai 200233, China.
authors.forename: Zhenqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shanghai 200233, China.
authors.forename: Chunxia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shanghai 200233, China.
authors.forename: Yangqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan. Electronic address: lei.zhongfang.gu@u.tsukuba.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Zhongfang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan. Electronic address: zhang.zhenya.fu@u.tsukuba.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Zhenya
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D058751:Livestock; D008372:Manure / Q000382:microbiology*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D012275:Oryza; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000382:microbiology*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D008372:Manure; D012987:Soil; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Co-composting; Dairy manure; Maturity evaluation index system; Rice straw; Swine manure