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| Effect of biochar on nitrogen transformation in vegetable wastes during composting |
| Received:December 04, 2015 |
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| KeyWord:vegetable waste;biomass charcoal;composting;nitrogen transformation;organic nitrogen formation |
| Author Name | Affiliation | E-mail | | XU Lu-wei | College of Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China | | | WANG Xu-dong | College of Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Agri-Environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling 712100, China | wangxudong01@126.com |
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| Abstract: |
| Aerobic composting is an effective way to dispose vegetable wastes. However, nitrogen losses in vegetable wastes during composting greatly decrease the effectiveness of compost fertilizers. Here the effect of biochar on nitrogen transformation in vegetable wastes was investigated in a 30 day composting experiment using tomato plants, corn stover and swine manure mixture amended with different rates of biochar. Results showed that additions of the biochar had the compost pile enter into the high temperature phase earlier, extended the high-temperature duration, and decreased NH3 emissions and nitrogen losses, thus increasing total nitrogen content in the composted products. Adding biochar also promoted transformation of NH4+-N to NO3--N(nitrification process) at the late stage and improved the content of unhydrolysable nitrogen. In addition, applying biochar facilitated compost maturing and lowered the ratio of NH4+-N/ NO3--N to ≤0.5 on the 18th day. Based on the present results, the optimum rate of biochar addition for nitrogen conservation and compost maturity would be about 10%. |
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