Valorization of cow manures and poultry manure in composting: Comparative studies

A successful use of compost for agronomic value and improvement of physical properties and fertility of soil requires monitoring of compost quality. For this purpose, two types of composts were prepared from cow manures and poultry manures and were analyzed for their physic-chemical characteristics. Reference analyses include the determination of pH, electrical conductivity, temperature, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), ammonium (NH₄⁺), nitrates (NO₃⁻), available phosphorus (P₂O₅). The preliminary results of compost analyses have shown a good evolution of the temperature during the process of composting, an alkali pH, a reduction of the TOC and the C/N ratio. Also the NH₄⁺composition was less than NO₃⁻ with NH₄⁺/NO₃⁻ ratio 1 in the final products. It can be concluded that the final products showed acceptable maturity levels and can be used for agricultural applications.