Samples of active and cured compost from across the U.S. are examined for volatile organic acids (VOA) in relation to other microbiological and chemical properties. VOA are considered important because they reflect temporal microbiological properties of active and cured compost that influence the potential for compost to become odorous and phytotoxic. Data collected from 712 compost samples rev...

Compost is the product resulting from the controlled biological decomposition of organic material that has been sanitized through the generation of heat and stabilized to the point that it is beneficial to plant growth. Compost bears little physical resemblance to the raw material from which it originated. Compost is an organic matter resource that has the unique ability to improve the chemical...

In many tropical regions, slash-and-burn agriculture is considered as a driver of deforestation; the forest is converted into agricultural land by cutting and burning the trees. However, the fields are abandoned after few years because of yield decrease and weed invasion. Consequently, new surfaces are regularly cleared from the primary forest. We propose a reclamation strategy for abandoned fi...

Compost and mulch blankets have been widely used for slope stabilization and erosion control at construction sites; however, the majority of research on these erosion control blankets has failed to meet state or federal specifications for particle size distribution. The primary objective of this study was to determine how blending wood mulch with compost may affect its performance as an erosion...

Outbreaks of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections associated with lettuce and other leaf crops have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years. Contaminated manure and polluted irrigation water are probable vehicles for the pathogen in many outbreaks. In this study, the occurrence and persistence of E. coli O157:H7 in soil fertilized with contaminated poultry or bovine ...

Residual effects of manure or compost application can maintain crop yield level for several years after Residual effects of manure or compost application on crop production and soil properties can last for several years. This study was manure or compost application ceases since only a fracconducted to evaluate residual effects of annual or biennial application of the N and other nutrients in ma...

Composts prepared from a variety of feedstocks were tested for their ability to suppress seedling and root diseases of creeping bentgrass caused by Pythium graminicola. Among the most suppressive materials in laboratory experiments were different batches of a brewery sludge compost and a biosolids compost from Endicott, N.Y. Batches of these composts that were initially not suppressive to Pythi...

The effects of adding of a range of organic amendments (biosolids, spent mushroom compost, green waste compost and green waste-derived biochar), at two rates, on some key chemical, physical and microbial properties of bauxite processing sand were studied in a laboratory incubation study. Addition of all amendments tended to decrease bulk density and macroporosity but increase total porosity, av...