In considering the impact of inoculation time and the characteristics of composting material and inoculants
on the usefulness of inoculation, a new composting strategy has been proposed and studied, in
which three inocula were inoculated at three stages of composting process respectively: inoculum A
(Thermoactinomyces sp. GF1 and GF2) was inoculated before fermentation to increase or maintain high
temperature of pile, inoculum B (Coprinus cinerea and Coprinus comatus) was inoculated after thermophilic
phase to promote degradation of lignin, and inoculum C (Trichoderma harzianum and
Rhizopus oryzae) was inoculated after 30-day fermentation to promote degradation of cellulose. The
results showed that the inoculations could significantly enhance the temperature of pile and the degradation
of lignocelluloses. When inocula A, B, and C were inoculated into pile, temperature increased from
25 C to 65 C, from 33 C to 39 C and from 33 C to 38 C respectively and 35% lignin and 43% cellulose
had been degraded in inoculated pile compared to the degradation of 15% lignin and 25% cellulose in control
pile. As a result, the C/N ratio dropped more rapidly degraded in the inoculated pile (reached 20 after
33-day fermentation) than that in the control pile (reached 21.7 after 45-day fermentation). In addition,
the volume loss in inoculated pile (76.5%) was higher than that in control pile (53.2%). The study, therefore,
indicated that inoculating proper microorganisms at appropriate time improved the composting
process and our new composting strategy would be propitious to the co-composting dairy manure with
rice straw.
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