Compost Quality Assessment of Various Agricultural Wastes and Organic Manures

Today the quality of compost is the most essential criterion in recycling organic wastes, as well as its marketing and utilization in agriculture. Environmentally safe recycling of organic waste to agricultural land could be crucial to sustaining soil productivity in Mediterranean areas, where soil organic matter content is very low. The present study discusses variations in some quality parameters of compost produced using various organic combinations. Over a period of 90 days, special attention was given to monitoring compost quality parameters, including: temperature, dry matter, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), microbial counts, organic matter (OM), organic carbon (OC), NH4, NO3, C:N ratio, macronutrients (NPK), and micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu). The results revealed that almost all of the investigated parameters showed remarkable changes during compost formation. Agricultural wastes in the presence 10% poultry manure was comparatively of superior quality in terms of the availability of macro and micronutrients as well as microbial activity. However, agricultural wastes with 10% mixture of sheep and camel manure was found to be superior in terms of OM, OC, C:N ratio and yielded the highest bacterial counts. Compost quality depended on the base materials used, the duration and conditions of decomposition.