Abstract
The effects of chicken manure biochar (CMB) and chicken manure integrated microbial consortium (CMMC) as co-amendments were assessed on compost maturity and reduction of greenhouse gases and ammonia (NH3) emissions during chicken manure composting. Composting was conducted using six combinations of CMB and CMCC (0 % CMB + 0 % CMMC, 0 % CMB + 10 % CMMC, 2 % CMB + 10 % CMMC, 4 % CMB + 10 % CMMC, 6 % CMB + 10 % CMMC, 10 % CMB + 10 % CMMC added on a dry weight basis) in six polyvinyl chloride composting reactors for 42 days under an aerobic environment.
Co-amendment of CMB and CMMC extended the thermophilic stage and promoted compost maturity. The release of greenhouse gases [nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4)] and NH3 from treatments co-amended by CMB and CMMC were reduced by 19.0–27.4 %, 9.3–55.9 % and 24.2–56.9 %, respectively, compared with the control. In addition, a redundancy analysis showed that the C/N ratio and temperature had a significant relationship with greenhouse gases and NH3 emissions among all physiochemical characteristics.
