H ighbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) is adapted to soils with high organic matter and pH of 4.5-5.5. Coniferous sawdust is the blueberry industry standard soil amendment and mulch in the Pacific Northwest, USA. However, sawdust prices are increasing, and its availability is becoming limited. Therefore, many blueberry producers are interested in compost as an alternative to sawdust, whi...

Compost product safety and quality assurance are required to meet the needs of the horticultural, agricultural, and silvicultural user markets. At present, there exist no industry-wide sampling and testing protocols for compost products, thus limiting the production sector. The objective of this research was to test three methods for determining compost maturity. The study followed the composti...

We studied the effects of applying different composts (urban organic waste, green waste, manure and sewage sludge), mineral fertilizer and compost plus mineral fertilizer on chemical, biological and soil microbiological parameters over a 12-year period. The organic C and total N levels in soils were increased by all compost and compost + N treatments. Microbial biomass C was significantly (P £ ...

Establishing a simple yet reliable compost stability test is essential for a better compost quality control and utilization efficiency. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between extractable organic carbon (OC) and compost stability based on 18 compost samples from five composting facilities. The compost samples were extracted sequentially with water for 2 h [water(2h)]...

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to composting of organic waste and the use of compost were assessed from a waste management perspective. The GHG accounting for composting includes use of electricity and fuels, emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from the composting process, and savings obtained by the use of the compost. The GHG account depends on waste type and composition (kitchen o...

Nursery experiments were conducted to select the suitable bioinoculants with locally available organic source to improve quality seedling production of Jatropha curcas L. Two months old Clones was procured from the Mission Biofuel India Pvt. of Madurai district, Tamilnadu, India. Clones were transplanted in a mixture of UnSterilised sand, Soil, and Farm Yard Manure (FYM) in the ratio of 2:1:1 i...

in a country like iran, where soil organic matter is less than 1% and in most cases even less than 0.5 %, municipal solid waste (msw) is a permanent and inexpensive source of organic matter. various experiments have indicated that applications of compost improve plant health, yield and nutritional quality. however, the quality of the compost determines the growth and the development of plants. ...

This study investigated effects of mature compost on gaseous emissions during composting using pig manure amended with corn stalks. Apart from a control treatment, three treatments were conducted with the addition of 5% (wet weight of raw materials) of mature compost: (a) mixing raw materials with mature compost at the beginning of composting; (b) covering raw materials with mature compost thro...

Pilot scale experiments with forced aeration were conducted to estimate effects of aeration rates on the performance of composting penicillin mycelial dreg using sewage sludge as inoculation. Three aeration rates of 0.15, 0.50 and 0.90L/(min·kg) organic matter (OM) were examined. The principal physicochemical parameters were monitored during the 32day composting period. Results showed that the ...

The economic, social and environmental costs of food waste are being increasingly recognised. Food waste consists of both edible and inedible components. Whilst wastage of edible food is problematic for obvious reasons, there are also costs associated with the disposal of the inedible fraction to landfill. This is the third in a series of papers examining the costs of food waste throughout the ...