Co-composting of rice straw [electronic resource].

Includes reference.

In the first study, rice straw was amended with animal manure and molasses (windrow A) in ratio of 1: 0.88: 0.04, and the second study, rice straw were blended with chicken manure and molasses (windrow B) in ratio of 1: 0.58: 0.02 the changes in physicochemical pattern and microbiological dynamics were studied during the composting period. Windrow B gave the highest values of temperature at earlier stages of composting process. There was no difference in pH and C: N ratio detected in the both studies. The fmal pH and C: N ratio of windrows A and B were 7.7 & 7.3 and 15.8 &11, respectively. Total microbial activity increased during the thermophilic phase and decreased again during maturation in both windrows A and B. Bacteria dominated during the thermophilic phase while fungi, actinomycetes and yeasts were below the detection time. However, they regrew again in the later stage (maturation phase). Sporeforming bacteria were detected throughout the entire processes, reaching a peak value 9.2 and 9.8 log¹º CFU g⁻¹ dry wt for windrows A and B, respectively. The highest activity of cellulolytic bacteria was observed during the thermophilic stage, and then declined during curing phase. In comparison of the composting performance between windrows A and B , the study found that rice straw blended chicken manure (windrow B ) offered the better organic matter decompositionpattern with the highest value of microbial load

Summary in Arabic.

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