Building a framework of aerobic deer manure/corn stover composting with black liquor/microbial inoculation

Rapid treatment processing for corn stover and black liquor is of the utmost importance with the boom in China’s agriculture sector. Aerobic fermentation composting via microbial/black liquor inoculation is superior to traditional composting with enhanced compost maturity and accelerated organic matter degradation. This research aimed to investigate the feasibility of black liquor addition and the effect of microbial/black liquor inoculation on the chemical composition and physiochemical and biological parameters for compost quality assessment. Results indicated that both the microbial/black liquor and the black liquor inoculation improved the heating rate. After composting for 18 days, the C contents and H contents were decreased to 44.29 ± 0.19% and 5.98 ± 0.05%, while the O contents and N contents were increased to 45.25 ± 0.15% and 3.48 ± 0.01%, which is consistent with the results of elemental analysis. This result indicated that black liquor and microbial inoculations accelerated the formation of nitrogen structures and recalcitrant nitrogenous oxygenated compounds. The FTIR analysis of four treatments confirmed that the microbial/black liquor inoculation could promote lignocellulose degradation and lignin degradation in subsequent composting. 16S rRNA sequencing revealed Deinooccola, Gemmatimonadota, and Chloroflexi as the predominant bacteria. The study suggested corm stover/black liquor composting as a promising technique for rapid and enhanced quality compost production.