Effect of inoculating microbes on cattle manure composting with high temperature

The compost test was conducted to study the effect of inoculating microbes and matured compost on cattle manure composting. The results indicated that inoculating microbes and matured compost significantly increased the rising rate of temperature during the earlier stage of composting, which reached the high thermophilic phase（>50℃）earlier 1～4 days compared to the control, and the more the amount of microbes added, the faster the temperature rose. The duration of the composting temperature above 50℃ with inoculating microbes at 600 mg·kg^-1 and matured compost at 50 g·kg^-1 was 3～4 days longer than that of the control. The compost with inoculating microbes at 600 mg. kg^-1 and matured compost at 50 g·kg^-1 achieved maturity after 29 days, and the seed germination index (GI ) reached 92.1% and 84.4%, respectively. However, other treatments did not achieve maturity after 29 days still. Therefore, addition of adequate amount of microbes and matured compost can speed the maturity of the compost and shorten the composting period.