Bacterial and fungal communities and contribution of physicochemical factors during cattle farm waste composting

• Published in: MicrobiologyOpen (Weinheim) Vol. 6; no. 6
• Main Authors: Huhe, Jiang, Chao, Wu, Yanpei, Cheng, Yunxiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2017; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Agricultural wastes; Animals; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - metabolism; bacterial community; Biodegradation, Environmental; Biodiversity; Bovidae; Cattle; Community composition; Composting; Composts; Farms; fungal community; Fungi; Fungi - classification; Fungi - genetics; Fungi - metabolism; high‐throughput sequencing; Livestock farming; Manure - analysis; Manure - microbiology; Microbial activity; Microorganisms; Next-generation sequencing; Organic carbon; Original Research; Phylogeny; physicochemical factors; Physicochemical properties; Redundancy; Relative abundance; Temperature effects; Variation; composting; physicochemical factors; bacterial community; fungal community; high-throughput sequencing
• DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.518
• ISSN: 2045-8827

During composting, the composition of microbial communities is subject to constant change owing to interactions with fluctuating physicochemical parameters. This study explored the changes in bacterial and fungal communities during cattle farm waste composting and aimed to identify and prioritize the contributing physicochemical factors. Microbial community compositions were determined by high‐throughput sequencing. While the predominant phyla in the bacterial and fungal communities were largely consistent during the composting, differences in relative abundances were observed. Bacterial and fungal community diversity and relative abundance varied significantly, and inversely, over time. Relationships between physicochemical factors and microbial community compositions were evaluated by redundancy analysis. The variation in bacterial community composition was significantly related to water‐soluble organic carbon (WSOC), and pile temperature and moisture (p < .05), while the largest portions of variation in fungal community composition were explained by pile temperature, WSOC, and C/N (p < .05). These findings indicated that those parameters are the most likely ones to influence, or be influenced by the bacterial and fungal communities. Variation partitioning analyses indicated that WSOC and pile temperature had predominant effects on bacterial and fungal community composition, respectively. Our findings will be useful for improving the quality of cattle farm waste composts. The key characteristic of our works is that we focus on the analysis of the main biotic and abiotic parameters of compost. Apart from determining α‐ and β‐diversities, we also explored that another primary goal of comparing microbial communities, such as to identifying specialized communities. In addition, we exposed the contribution and interaction of physicochemical factors that dominate the composting microorganisms.