Composting Rice Straw with Cannery Waste vs. Dairy Manure Study

 

METHODS

A single factor experiment is designed to test the effect of compost inoculation on compost degradation rates, thus providing important information on the feasibility of compost production, rates of decomposition and compost quality.

Rice straw was chopped to a standard fiber length of 3 inches and mixed with livestock manure (M) to achieve a C:N ratio of 30:1 at 55% moisture. Cannery waste (C) was also mixed with the straw as a second treatment. A small amount of manure was mixed into the cannery waste to enhance the nitrogen concentration. Treatments were placed within the bags at random, one bag was inoculated with a patented inoculant to enhance the rate of degradation. Core temperatures and samples were taken weekly from each of the 10 replicates.Material was pressed into thePOD at the proper density to maintain porosity. As the POD filled, an aeration tubing was added along the entire length The piping has specially sized and spaced slots to pressurize oxygen throughout the entire length of the POD. All bags will be aerated to maintain a 13 - 17% oxygen concentration within each bag.Concentrations of insoluble lignin and cellulose was determined by acid detergent fiber and acid detergent lignin to determine the rate of compost degradation.

RESULTS

Rice straw and dairy manure composts very well and produces an extremely high quality soil amendment

Nitrogen levels are almost exclusively organic,a form that does not leach and is available to the plant. Potassium, calcium and phosphorus are also important components of both.

Core temperature's indicated that the compost heated sufficiently for acomplete pathogen and weed seed kill and seemed to stabilize at 100 - 120 degrees for 60 days.

 

 

Degradation data indicates that the compost broke down sufficiently to provide organic matter to the soil upon application. Not only was cellulose degraded to 50% of it's original form, but the lignin concentration was also reduced significantly (36%). The compost was also shown to be free from plant toxicity in field test with rice variety 202 and in green house experiments with strawberry plant varieties.