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Carbon and nitrogen transformation during composting of sweet sorghum bagasse

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Abstract

Two types of compost, consisting of sweet sorghum bagasse with either sewage sludge or a mixture of pig slurry and poultry manure, were studied in a pilot plant using the Rutgers system. The total degradation of the piles as determined by the weight loss of organic matter during the bio-oxidative and maturation phases accounted for 64% of the organic matter applied and followed a first-order kinetic function. Concentrations of total and organic N increased during the composting process as the degradation of organic C compounds reduced the compost weight. Losses of N through NH3 volatilization were low, particularly in the compost with sewage sludge due to pH values of <7.0 and the low temperatures reached in the compost during the first 2 weeks. The C:N ratio in the two composts decreased from 24.0 and 15.4 to values between 12 and 10. Increases in cation exchange capacity and in fulvic and humic acid-like C revealed that the organic matter had been humified during composting. The humification index, the C:N ratio, fulvic:humic acid-like C, and cation exchange capacity proved to be the most suitable parameters for assessing the maturity of these composts.

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Bernal, M.P., Navarro, A.F., Roig, A. et al. Carbon and nitrogen transformation during composting of sweet sorghum bagasse. Biol Fert Soils 22, 141–148 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00384446

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