Abstract:
The low C/N ratio of vegetable waste can not compost by itself, vegetable waste composting under the existing aerobic composting process requires a lot of conditioning agents, and the effect of different conditioning components on the humification progress of the vegetable waste composting process is unclear. In order to solve the above problems, we used tomato vine as the main material, and selected three different kinds of conditioning agents including wheat straw, coconut bran and mushroom residue for aerobic composting to understand the humic substances production and change trend during aerobic composting with low C/N ratio (C/N=14) of vegetable waste under the addition of different conditioning agents. The degree of humification of compost was judged using temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and germination index (GI) to clarify the effects and change pattern of humification of vegetable waste compost with different conditioner additions through changes in humic components. The results showed that compared with the inability of a vegetable waste to complete humification by its own compost, the addition of different conditioning agents could all humify the vegetable waste, and the degree of humification by different treatments was similar. The humic acid contents of the end compost were all around 28%, while the humic acid contents of the different treatment compost products differed greatly, with the highest amount reaching 11.9% in mushroom pomace treatment(T3), and the least amount being only 4.8% in coconut bran treatment(T2). Infrared spectroscopic analysis of compost products from the different treatments showed that the least amount of altered aromatic stretching vibration and a lower degree of humification occurred in the treatment with coconut bran added relative to the other two treatments. Composting results showed that all three types of conditioning agents, wheat straw, coconut bran, and mushroom residue, enabled the tail vegetables to be aerobically composted under low C/N conditions, while the temperature, pH, EC, and GI values met the relevant organic manure standards. The addition of wheat straw more easily promoted humic acid production and promoted the formation of humic substances, but poor humification effect in coconut bran treatment.