Title
Adding value to home compost: Biopesticide properties through Bacillus thuringiensis inoculation
Date Issued
01 April 2020
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Vargas-García M.d.C.
Sánchez A.
Barrena R.
Artola A.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Ltd
Abstract
Home and community composting are considered potential tools for the self-management of organic waste. The production of added value products from biowaste is an encouraging step further to valorise this waste stream. To increase the profits of homemade compost, this paper presents a strategy to produce enriched home compost with biopesticide properties through a simple and low-cost process. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was inoculated in a home composter bin through a solid inoculum previously prepared using the same waste as substrate. The process was monitored and compared with a home composting control process without inoculation. Final composts were analysed and compared in terms of physicochemical and microbiological properties, respiration and germination indices, indicating the suitability of both to be used as organic amendments. Also, a standardized toxicity test proved that Bt-enriched compost can be safely applied to the soil. Microbiological analysis revealed highly diverse communities in both cases, with limited differences at phylum taxonomic level, but dissimilar relative abundances of species within phylum. Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria were dominant, with the presence of species able to transform organic matter from vegetal origin, but not usually related to compost. Bt-cristal toxin was clearly present in Bt-enriched compost, indicating the coexistence of Bt with the different microbial populations till the end of the composting process. Although Bt has been widely investigated due to its biopesticide properties, the incorporation of this microorganism to home composting level has not been previously reported.
Start page
32
End page
43
Volume
106
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Agricultura Otros temas de Biología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85081228437
PubMed ID
Source
Waste Management
ISSN of the container
0956053X
DOI of the container
10.1016/j.wasman.2020.03.003
Source funding
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
Peruvian Government for the President of the Republic Scholarship
PRONABEC
Sponsor(s)
The authors thank the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, which gave financial support (Project CTM2015-69513-R) to this work, the Consorci del Bages per a la Gestió de Residus for the waste supply, and Dra. M. Àngels Calvo Torras from the Department of Animal Health and Anatomy of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for her advice on Bt identification. Cindy Ballardo thanks the Peruvian Government for the President of the Republic Scholarship (PRONABEC). The authors thank the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad , which gave financial support (Project CTM2015-69513-R) to this work, the Consorci del Bages per a la Gestió de Residus for the waste supply, and Dra. M. Àngels Calvo Torras from the Department of Animal Health and Anatomy of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for her advice on Bt identification. Cindy Ballardo thanks the Peruvian Government for the President of the Republic Scholarship (PRONABEC).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus