Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
compost feedstock soil, air and water. Both feedstock as well as compost is readily
decomposed by microbes during compost processing (Haug
1993
). Bacteria and
fungi, especially mesophilic and thermophilic, are considered as main microbial
components of a compost. Most of the microorganisms involved in composting
process are aerobes. Wet atmosphere is needed by compost microorganisms as they
survive in the wet films neighboring organic matter particle composting.
11.4.1.1
Bacteria
Bacteria are one of the most essential types of microbes for compost (Environmen-
tal Protection Agency (EPA)
1999
). A gram of compost may contain billions of
bacteria in it. They utilize a broad range of enzymes to decompose organic matter
chemically. At initial stage of composting, mesophilic bacteria predominate. Ther-
mophilic bacteria control after the compost temperature surpasses 40 °. Temperature
of compost has important influence on bacterial diversification. It increases when
temperature lies between 50-55 °, however, it rapidly declined at greater than 60 °,
when merely thermophilic bacteria continue to exist. Bacteria are usually related
to the utilization of effortlessly degraded organic matter (Natural Resource, Agri-
culture, and Engineering Service (NRAES)
1999
). They are the prevailing inhabit-
ants right through the complete composting practice, while fungi and actinomycetes
normally grow during last stages (Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering
Service (NRAES)
1999
).
Compost has rich as well as varied microbial communities. Composition starts
similarly after thermophilic phase and shifts dynamically through time. The curing
phase offers a substrate and climate conducive for microbial recolonization, which
can be accomplished either by inoculating post-thermophilic compost or preparing
a palatable substrate that provides a competitive advantage for colonization by bac-
teria and fungi that offer biological control, slow-release fertility, and/or promote
plant growth (Neher et al.
2013
). Previous investigations have discovered that key
bacterial groups in the start of the composting practice are mesophilic bacteria,
such as
Lactobacillus
sp. and
Acetobacter
sp. (Golueke et al.
1954
). More than
1500 full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences were analyzed and of these, above 500
were there as singletons. The majority of the sequences assessed were analogous
to the bacterial species reported earlier in composts, including bacteria from the
phyla Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and
Deinococcus-
thermus
(Partanen et al.
2010
). In another study, variety of microbial communities
and cellulolytic enzymes activities were examined through the co-composting of
EFB and moderately treated POME by Baharuddin et al. (
2009
). They reported that
composting process was dominated by uncultured bacteria species. The dominant
bacterial group changed from the phylum Proteobacteria in the thermophilic stage
to the phylum Chloroflexi in the maturing stage. However, latest findings in which
bacterial community structure and biochemical changes during the composting of
lignocellulosic oil palm EFB and POME anaerobic sludge were studied by Zainudin
et al. (
2013
), a severe change in the bacterial community structure and diversity
