Effects of Exogenous Bacterial Agents on Material Transformation and Microbial Community Composition during Composting of Tomato Stalks

Yang Li, Guanzhi Zhang, Peng Xu, Shun Zhou, Yan Li, Liyuan Ma, Zhenchao Yang () and Yongjun Wu ()
Additional contact information
Yang Li: College of Horticulture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Guanzhi Zhang: College of Horticulture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Peng Xu: College of Horticulture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Shun Zhou: College of Horticulture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Yan Li: College of Horticulture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Liyuan Ma: College of Horticulture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Zhenchao Yang: College of Horticulture, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China
Yongjun Wu: College of Life Sciences, Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University, Yangling, Xianyang 712100, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 23, 1-21

Abstract: Tomato stems can pollute the environment and also cause resource costs. In this study, five combinations of microbial agents were added to tomato stems for aerobic composting to find effective microbial formulations to improve composting performance and product quality through comparative analysis. Six treatments were set up: T1 (Microbial agents A), T2 (0.5% Microbial agents B), T3 (0.5% Microbial agents C), T4 (0.5% Microbial agents D), T5 (0.5% Microbial agents E) and T6 (no addition). The physicochemical parameters of the composting system were measured, and the dynamics of the microbial community during the composting process were studied using high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that the T1 treatment had a longer high-temperature period than T6 and the highest cellulose degradation rate (62.0%). The contents of total phosphorus (TP), total potassium (TK) and effective potassium (AK) were 8.11 g·kg −1 , 53.98 g·kg −1 and 45.62 g·kg −1 , respectively, at the end of composting, representing increases of 270.3%, 56.6% and 25.40% compared to the initial values, significantly higher than the control ( p < 0.05). The Chao1 and Shannon indexes of T1 treatment were 73.5% and 41.7% higher in the compost decay stage for bacteria, and 50.2% and 18.1% for fungi, significantly higher than in T6 ( p < 0.05) compared to the initial values. During the high-temperature phase, the abundance of Aspergillus increased (4.13% to 44.24%) the abundance of Staphylococcus decreased (58.31% to 8.90%). In terms of numbers and species diversity, bacterial communities were more abundant than fungal communities. Proteobacteria , Firmicutes , Actinomycetes and Bacteroides were the four main bacterial phyla, while Ascomycetes was the absolutely dominant fungal phylum. In conclusion, the addition of microbial agent A can effectively improve the nutrient content of tomato stem compost, promote the maturation of compost, and regulate the microbial community structure and can realize the resource utilization of tomato stems.

Keywords: tomato stalks; aerobic composting; microbial agents; high-throughput sequencing; microbial community (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/16284/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/16284/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:23:p:16284-:d:995134

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().