ISHS Acta Horticulturae 302: International Symposium on Compost Recycling of Wastes
MICROBIAL STARTER CULTURES FOR DIRECTED COMPOSTING |
| Authors: | L. Sáry, Zs. Dér, L. Küsz, R.P. Tengerdy, Gy. Szakács |
| Abstract:
The world wide need to restore the productivity and humus forming ability of infertile or overburdened soils requires the application of special soil inoculants, organic composts and / or fertilizers. The large amounts of unused or underused biomass resources, such as agricultural and foresty residues, industrial and municipal organic waste, may serve as raw material for the preparation of compost, specially designed for the need of a particular crop. For composting, special microbial starter cultures are prepared by anaerobic or aerobic submerged fermentation of 6–8 different microorganisms /bacteria including Actinomycetes/. The microbes are grown to 109–1010 CFU/ml and mixed in the appropriate proportion to suit the composting process, directed to a particular plant. About 5–10% v/v of the mixed microbial culture is added to the selected organic carrier, and composted anaerobically or aerobically at a determined optimal temperature, pH, pO2, C:N ratio for 25–60 days. In such a directed compost the desired added microbes are the predominant species. Directed composts are prepared for field crops, vegetables, ornamentals and lawns, using fruit and winery processing residues, municipal sewage sludge, agricultural and foresty residues etc. Such composts are now marketed as commercial products. We succesfully incorporated Trichoderma harzianum, a biological plant protection agent, into such composts. | |
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