title: Hydrolytic Amino Acids Employed as a Novel Organic Nitrogen Source for the Preparation of PGPF-Containing Bio-Organic Fertilizer for Plant Growth Promotion and Characterization of Substance Transformation during BOF Production.
abstract: Opportunity costs seriously limit the large-scale production of bio-organic fertilizers (BOFs) both in China and internationally. This study addresses the utilization of amino acids resulting from the acidic hydrolysis of pig corpses as organic nitrogen sources to increase the density of TrichodermaharzianumT-E5 (a typical plant growth-promoting fungi, PGPF). This results in a novel, economical, highly efficient and environmentally friendly BOF product. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy combined with fluorescence regional integration (FRI) was employed to monitor compost maturity levels, while pot experiments were utilized to test the effects of this novel BOF on plant growth. An optimization experiment, based on response surface methodologies (RSMs), showed that a maximum T-E5 population (3.72 × 108 ITS copies g-1) was obtained from a mixture of 65.17% cattle manure compost (W/W), 19.33% maggot manure (W/W), 15.50% (V/W)hydrolytic amino acid solution and 4.69% (V/W) inoculum at 28.7°C after a 14 day secondary solid fermentation. Spectroscopy analysis revealed that the compost transformation process involved the degradation of protein-like substances and the formation of fulvic-like and humic-like substances. FRI parameters (PI, n, PII, n, PIII, n and PV, n) were used to characterize the degree of compost maturity. The BOF resulted in significantly higher increased chlorophyll content, shoot length, and shoot and root dry weights of three vegetables (cucumber, tomato and pepper) by 9.9%~22.4%, 22.9%~58.5%, 31.0%~84.9%, and 24.2%~34.1%, respectively. In summary, this study presents an operational means of increasing PGPF T-E5 populations in BOF to promote plant growth with a concomitant reduction in production cost. In addition, a BOF compost maturity assessment using fluorescence EEM spectroscopy and FRI ensured its safe field application.
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.|Grassland& Environmental Engineering Lab, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Fengge
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Chenglong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.|Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ran
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.|Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Guanghui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Grassland& Environmental Engineering Lab, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Yingjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizers, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.|Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China.
authors.forename: Qirong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D000069599:Crop Production / Q000379:methods*; D005308:Fertilizers; D013552:Swine; D014242:Trichoderma / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D005308:Fertilizers