Essay About United States Environmental Protection Agency And Analysis Of Composts

The Analysis of Composts
The Analysis of Composts
The term compost has been defined by Zucconi and Bertoldi (1987) as ‘the
stabilized and sanitized product of composting which is beneficial to plant
growth. It has undergone an initial, rapid stage of decomposition and is in
the process of humification. The initial thermophilic stage of decomposition
is the means of self-sanitizing and removing pathogens. If the compost is insufficiently
humified, it is immature, and the wide C:N ratio causes it to immobilize
soil nitrogen as it continues to actively decompose in the soil. If
sufficiently sanitized and humified, the compost is said to be biomature. The
development of globally accepted criteria for compost specifications is still at
an early stage, so some scientists have proposed biomaturity tests (Mathur et
al., 1993).
Methods on-line
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a website where
physical and chemical test methods for evaluating solid wastes may be downloaded
as pdf files:
We understand here by compost a marketed product of an organic based
material derived from a variety of sources. These might be treated municipal
waste, spent mushroom compost, a bracken- or seaweed-based compost, agricultural
and food processing wastes etc., which might be put to agricultural
use. Composts are often very heterogeneous, which makes it difficult to prepare
a sufficiently homogeneous sample. The high humus content makes them
similar to peat soils, where organic matter can exceed 95%, which can affect
not only the analytical method, but also the interpretation of the results in
making fertilizer recommendations.
Typical specifications
Typical parameters and nutrient levels for assessment of compost quality are
shown in Table 5.2. These are combined values from a variety of sources,
including Bertoldi et al. (1987), and are merely intended to help in setting up