Nitrogen loss, nitrogen functional genes, and humification as affected by hydrochar addition during chicken manure composting

Guangchun Shan; Weiguang Li; Jie Liu; Lin Zhu; Xinhao Hu; Wei Yang; Wenbing Tan; Beidou Xi

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128512

Nitrogen loss, nitrogen functional genes, and humification as affected by hydrochar addition during chicken manure composting

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Feb:369:128512. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128512. Epub 2022 Dec 17.

Authors

Guangchun Shan¹, Weiguang Li², Jie Liu², Lin Zhu², Xinhao Hu², Wei Yang³, Wenbing Tan⁴, Beidou Xi⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, and State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Simulation and Control of Groundwater Pollution, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
³ China Land Surveying and Planning Institute, Beijing 100035, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, and State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Simulation and Control of Groundwater Pollution, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, and State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Simulation and Control of Groundwater Pollution, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

PMID: 36538962
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128512

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of hydrochar addition on nitrogen (N) transformation, N functional genes, and humification during chicken manure composting. The addition of 10 % hydrochar reduced cumulative ammonia (NH₃) and nitrous oxide emissions by 55.24 % and 45.30 %, respectively, and N losses by 32.07 %. Further, it increased the relative abundance of amoA while decreasing that of nirK, nirS, and nosZ in compost. Hydrochar reduces NH₃ emissions during composting owing to its acid-carbon properties that lower the pH of the composting pile and promote ammonia oxidation. Moreover, hydrochar addition enhances the humification of the composting pile and significantly increases the content of humic substances. Moreover, after hydrochar addition, the germination index of the compost product reached >80 % 10 days earlier. The results demonstrate that hydrochar is a suitable composting additive for reducing N loss and shortening the composting time.

Keywords: Chicken manure; Composting; Humic substances; Hydrochar; Nitrogen functional genes.

MeSH terms

Ammonia / analysis
Animals
Chickens
Composting*
Manure
Nitrogen* / analysis
Soil

Substances

Nitrogen
Ammonia
Manure
Soil