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Application of respiration and FDA hydrolysis measurements for estimating microbial activity during composting processes

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Abstract

Olive-tree leaves (OL) were mixed with olive press cake (OPC) and extracted olive press cake (EPC) at 1:1 dw/dw ratios to prepare two composting mixtures (OL+OPC and OL+EPC). Both CO2–C evolution and fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis, determined as estimates of the microbial activity during composting, were related to temperature fluctuations in the compost piles, showing greater values at the temperature peaks, compared to the end, of each thermophilic phase. This, however, was only shown after handling and incubating samples at the temperatures of the compost mixtures at the sampling times and not at a low standard temperature. Incubating samples from thermophilic phases at low standard temperatures resulted in underestimation of the microbial activity occurring during composting. The effect of incubation temperature was less dramatic for FDA hydrolysis compared to CO2–C evolution measurements, probably reflecting the reduced dependence of enzymes involved in FDA hydrolysis on the respective temperatures. However, FDA hydrolysis was a less sensitive indicator of microbial activity, probably due to extracellular cleavage of fluorescein by persistent esterases, at lowered microbial activity phases. Total microbial biomass, estimated by the fumigation–extraction method, was not consistently related to temperature fluctuations during composting and showed a clear increase at the end of composting, probably resulting from a large slow-growing mycelial community colonising the end products. Since high temperatures did not induce significant non-microbial CO2–C release and FDA degradation, we propose the performance of microbial activity measurements during thermophilic composting phases at the actual temperatures evolving in the composts.

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Acknowledgements

This work was carried out in the frame of the RECOVEG E.U. project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, National Agricultural Research Foundation (N.AG.RE.F.), 87 Lakonikis St., Kalamata, 24100, Greece

    Spyridon Ntougias, Kalliope K. Papadopoulou & George Zervakis

  2. Soils and Agricultural Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Reclamation of Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos St., Athens, 118 55, Greece

    Constantinos Ehaliotis

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  1. Spyridon Ntougias
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Correspondence to Constantinos Ehaliotis.

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Ntougias, S., Ehaliotis, C., Papadopoulou, K.K. et al. Application of respiration and FDA hydrolysis measurements for estimating microbial activity during composting processes. Biol Fertil Soils 42, 330–337 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-005-0031-z

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