Microbial community composition turnover and function in the mesophilic phase predetermine chicken manure composting efficiency.

Abstract The aim of this work was to study the influence of inoculation with microbial inoculants (MI) or mature compost (MC) by comparing the resultant composting efficiency with that in a noninoculated (CK) treatment. MI and MC application both accelerated the composting process according to fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) detection and germination index testing. Bacterial and fungal community composition both differed significantly over the composting period. However, the turnover of the initial bacterial community played a significant role in the composting process, and the key operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of MI (OTU_26, Thermicanus) and MC (OTU_48, Tepidimicrobium) showed significant explanatory power for the formation of humic acid-like and fulvic acid-like substances, respectively, during the stage of composting. Thus, our results indicate that microbial inoculation accelerates the composting process by stimulating key resident microbes in the initial stage.