Meat and bone meal stimulates microbial diversity and suppresses plant pathogens in asparagus straw composting

Xinxin Liu; Xiaoxiao Li; Yinfeng Hua; Aki Sinkkonen; Martin Romantschuk; Yanfang Lv; Qian Wu; Nan Hui

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.953783

Meat and bone meal stimulates microbial diversity and suppresses plant pathogens in asparagus straw composting

Front Microbiol. 2022 Sep 20:13:953783. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.953783. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xinxin Liu^{1

2

3}, Xiaoxiao Li¹, Yinfeng Hua⁴, Aki Sinkkonen⁵, Martin Romantschuk⁶, Yanfang Lv⁷, Qian Wu⁸, Nan Hui^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
² Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Eco-Environmental Change and Management Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.
³ Shanghai Urban Forest Ecosystem Research Station, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Shanghai Pudong Development (Group) CO., Ltd., Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Garden Technologies, Horticulture Technologies, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Helsinki, Finland.
⁶ Faculty of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Helsinki, Lahti, Finland.
⁷ Food Safety Key Lab of Liaoning Province, College of Food Science and Engineering, Bohai University, Jinzhou, China.
⁸ Boda Environmental Protection Co., Ltd., Yixing, China.

Abstract

Meat and bone meal (MBM), as slaughterhouse waste, is a potential biostimulating agent, but its efficiency and reliability in composting are largely unknown. To access the MBM application to the composting process of asparagus straw rice, we followed the composting process for 60 days in 220-L composters and another 180 days in 20-L buckets in treatments applied with MBM or urea. The microbial succession was investigated by high-throughput sequencing. Compared with urea treatments, MBM addition stabilized pH and extended the thermophilic phase for 7 days. The germination index of MBM treatments was 24.76% higher than that of urea treatments. MBM also promoted higher microbial diversity and shifted community compositions. Organic matter and pH were the most significant factors that influence the bacterial and fungal community structure. At the genus level, MBM enriched relative abundances of organic matter-degrading bacteria (Alterococcus) and lignocellulose-degrading fungi (Trichoderma), as well as lignocellulolytic enzyme activities. Notably, MBM addition decreased sum abundances of plant pathogenic fungi of Phaeoacremonium, Acremonium, and Geosmithia from 17.27 to 0.11%. This study demonstrated the potential of MBM as an effective additive in asparagus straw composting, thus providing insights into the development of new industrial aerobic fermentation.

Keywords: compost; meat and bone meal; microbial community diversity; plant pathogen suppress; straw.