The physical and chemical characteristics of composts of invasive Acacia longifolia and Acacia melanoxylon shrubs were evaluated to identify compost limitations as a substrate component. The bulk density was <0.4 g cm and the total pore space was >85% of the total volume. Air capacity, the easily available water and buffering capacity were also within acceptable recommended values for horticult...

High numbers (10 to 10 cells per g [dry weight]) of heterotrophic, gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-sporeforming, aerobic, thermophilic bacteria related to the genus Thermus were isolated from thermogenic composts at temperatures between 65 and 82&C. These bacteria were present in different types of wastes (garden and kitchen wastes and sewage sludge) and in all the industrial composting systems ...

Introduction Interest in organic production methods for vegetables continues to increase. Production practices for organic field production of vegetables have a long history, but practices to grow organic vegetable transplants in a spring greenhouse are poorly known. Organic fertilizers and composts are available but the efficacy and rates for use have not been evaluated. Experiments in the sum...

The aim of this work was to study the co-composting process of the solid phase of the digestate (PSD) obtained from the anaerobic digestion of pig slurry, with agricultural and agro-food wastes, such as wheat straw (WS), vine shoot pruning (VP), pepper plant pruning (PP) and exhausted grape marc (EGM), as well as the final added-value properties of the composts obtained. All the composting mixt...

Composting is widely used to transform waste materials into valuable agricultural products. In the tropics, large quantities of agricultural wastes could be potentially useful in agriculture after composting. However, while microbiological processes of composts in general are well established, relatively little is known about microbial communities that may be unique to these in tropical systems...

This study examined macro-nutrient content of solid waste compost to determine the potential of the compost for soil fertility amelioration in Ghana. Heavy metal concentrations in the compost were also examined to assess the potential health implication of compost application in urban and peri-urban agriculture. It was observed that the overall NPK concentration was low in the different compost...

The present study tries to investigate the effect of composting process on some properties and heavy metals status of two municipal sewage sludge (MSS) as affected by three different organic bulking agents (BAs) at three levels (10%, 25%, and 45% V/V). According to the results, the composting process could reduce the fecal coliform to class A, a reduction more obvious in treatments with BAs tha...

The present study tries to investigate the effect of composting process on some properties and heavy metals status of two municipal sewage sludge (MSS) as affected by three different organic bulking agents (BAs) at three levels (10%, 25%, and 45% V/V). According to the results, the composting process could reduce the fecal coliform to class A, a reduction more obvious in treatments with BAs tha...

During composting of household waste, the acidity of the material affects the process during the initial phase of rising temperature. In this study, the effects of temperature (36-46 degrees C) and pH (4.6-9.2) on the respiration rate during the early phase of composting were investigated in two different composts. A respiration method where small compost samples were incubated at constant temp...

A recent study evaluated the effects of compost salinity on the performance of plants often used in herbicide bioassays and demonstrated that salinity and pH of compost test media significantly influenced plant growth, leading in some cases to stunting, yieldreduction and total-loss of seedlings (Brinton, et al. 2005). The principal cause of harmful effects was shown to be salinity with seconda...