Impact of cellulose-degrading fungi on physical and chemical properties change of plant residues during aerobic decomposition

Abstract EN

This study aims to assess the effect of Cellulose-degrading fungi inoculum, which contains two strains (Trichoderma viride and Trichoderma harizianum), application on the composting process of sugarcane dry leaves.

Three composting piles were included in this study as it follows; 1) traditional method composting pile was inrached with clay soil as source of degrading microorganisms, 2) pile was supplied with cellulose-degrading fungi inoculum, and 3) pile was supplied with cattle dung as source of microorganism.

Samples from the three compost pile were taken at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks and monitored for physical and chemical analysis.

All compost treatments showed an increase in temperature right after composting started.

The piles treated with fungi inoculum (C-2) reached the highest temperatures peak value of 68.3°C on day 24 compared to composting treatments C-1 and C-3.

The moisture content gradually increased within the first 4 weeks from 52, 55 and 49 % to 66, 65 and 62% for composting treatment C-1, C-2 and C-3 respectively.

The initial pH values for treatments C-1 and C-2 tended to decrease in the second week and treatment C-3 in the third week.

The C/N ratio reached 15:1 after the 6 week for sugarcane dry leaves inoculated with fungi inoculum(C-2).

The final values of total C/N ratio after the 12 week were 20:1, 11:1 and 18:1 for composting treatments C-1, C-2 and C-3 respectively.

Compost supplied with cellulose-degrading fungi (C-2) has more N, P and K content compared to other composting treatments (C-1 and C-3).

These results indicated that fungi strains (Trichoderma viride and Trichoderma harizianum) can be used effectively to prepare compost within a short period.