Influence of Microbial Inoculant on Composting of Biodegradable Domestic Solid Wastes

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of microbial inoculant (Emuniv) on composting of biodegradable domestic solid wastes for over 30 days. Three different types of treatments were used for the composting of source separated domestic solid waste. The results showed that the use of microbial inoculant in the composting of domestic solid wastes enhanced the biodegradation of composted organic material, which is evident from the considerable changes in temperature, moisture content and volume reduction with time. The compost treatments with Emuniv inoculant recorded higher temperature for the duration of composting phases, compared to treatment without Emuniv inoculant. Whereas, the moisture content and volume reduction of all treatments was showed a decreasing trend during the composting process. The larger reduction was seen in the treatments with Emuniv inoculant. Additionally, according to the results of analysis of variance (ANOVA), there was a statistically significant difference in temperature, moisture content and volume reduction between treatments. Moreover, the utilisation of microbial inoculant in composting was also can improve the quality of final compost product as reflected by the total nitrogen and available phosphorus contents in the compost product were higher than in the control.