Abstract

DELGADO ARROYO, María del Mar et al. ASSESSMENT OF THE COMPOSTING PROCESS OF POULTRY MANURE USING DIFFERENT MIXTURES OF SUBSTRATES. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2019, vol.35, n.4, pp.965-977.  Epub Dec 22, 2020. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2019.35.04.15.

Agricultural residues, particularly those from poultry activity, may have a negative impact, contributing to soil, water and air pollution. The composting process is an alternative to this. The objective of this work is to reuse these residues and evaluate the composting process at the laboratory level in four treatments: poultry manure + straw (P + S), poultry manure + straw + ash (P + S + A), poultry manure + straw + eggs (P + S + E), and poultry manure + straw + eggs + ash (P + S + E + A), all of them in the adequate proportions so that the carbon:nitrogen ratio is suitable for composting (C/N < 20). Additionally, for comparative studies, a semi-industrial pile level of 20 m3 under environmental conditions and a bioassay of the final compost were carried out to measure its phytotoxicity. In order to evaluate the composting process, the physical and chemical parameters (pH, electrical conductivity [EC], organic matter [OM], nitrogen [N] and C/N ratio) were analyzed, with their respective analysis of variance of multiple range, to determine the effect of the treatments; to compare the means, the least significant difference test was used at a level of significance of p ≤ 0.05. The results obtained from the different mixes of substrates during the time the compost was done, showed a good agronomic quality, not presenting concentrations of phytotoxic compounds that affect crops; therefore, it can be used as organic fertilizer and cultivation substrate.

Keywords : poultry manure; straw; eggs and ash; semi-industrial pile; physical and chemical characterization.