Abstract

LOPEZ FERNANDEZ, Sonia; SERRATO CUEVAS, Rodolfo; CASTELAN ORTEGA, Octavio Alonso  and  AVILES NOVA, Francisca. COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO VENTILATION METHODS ON THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF LIVESTOCK MANURE COMPOST. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2018, vol.34, n.2, pp.263-271. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2018.34.02.07.

In this work we compared the effects of two ventilation methods on the chemical composition of four livestock manure compost. We conducted four manure composting experiments (Exp) with two ventilation methods: manually with a shovel (Vm), and with perforated polyvinyl chloride (Vt). Exp 1 was designated cattle manure compost (CBo + Vm, CBo + Vt); Exp 2, goat manure compost (CCa + Vm, CCa + Vt); Exp 3, horse manure compost (CEq + Vm, CEq + Vt), and Exp 4, sheep manure compost (COv + Vm, COv + Vt). A completely randomized design was used in each experiment, with three repetitions. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted using the Minitab program and Tukey’s test (p < 0.05) to compare methods. We analyzed temperature, hydrogen potential (pH), electric conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N), phosphate (PO4), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sulfate (SO4), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), boron (B), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu). There were highly significant differences in the temperatures observed with the different treatments in the experiments (p = 0.000). No statistical differences were observed in the chemical composition in CBo, CCa and COv based on the ventilation method used (p > 0.05). Statistical differences in C/N were found in CEq + Vt (p = 0.049). The ventilation methods did not impact the chemical characteristics of the cattle, goat and sheep manure composts, but in CEq it was found that placing plastic tubes in the compost piles facilitated greater degradation of the OM and reduced the C/N. Both ventilation methods are recommended in CBo, CCa and COv. And the ventilation method with tubes is recommended in CEq.

Keywords : nutrient content; organic waste; aeration; composting.