Composting of yard waste is one of the waste management approaches in the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) in Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. The yard waste inventory was developed in the headquarters’ area and a pilot-scale study was performed on the potential compost product. The total amount of yard waste generated from June 2017 to December 2017 was 16.75 tonnes with an average generation of 0.60 tonnes per week on the dry weight (d.w.) basis. The collected yard waste consisted of three major characteristics, namely dry leaves, fresh green leaves, and grass cuttings, and a waste estimation technique was applied to determine the composition of these three elements. The acquired information was used to formulate the initial compost mixture. The wastes were then mixed with an appropriate amount of livestock manure and other wastes to obtain the optimum initial C/N ratio, which was then found in the analysis to range between 25:1 and 42:1. Meanwhile, the C/N ratios obtained from the matured compost product were from 10:1 and 15:1. Moreover, most of the compost yield ranged between 50% and 70% (w w −1 d.w. basis), while the percentage of the seed germination in the compost was over 95%. The viability of the project was indicated from the economic analysis, with benefit to cost ratio (BCR) values of more than 1. The results also suggested that the large scale composting of yard waste in MARDI was feasible and its applicability is continuous. This technique also fulfilled the objective of producing quality compost, which was suitable for agricultural use.

Abundance and unmanaged agriculture residues lead to unutilized resource waste and environmental pollution. Application of microbial technology to manage agriculture waste could produce value-added product. A preliminary study on biodegradation of rice straw using different potential microorganisms was tested under controlled environment. Three different inoculant cultures were used to observe their efficiency in rice straw degradation. Combination cultures microorganisms coding AMB1 shows the potential degrading activity, which reduces the hemicellulose of rice straw by 50% from the raw material. The highest cellulase activity at 1.5 U/mL was also observed in rice straw treatment with AMB1 than single inoculant fungi and commercial microbial product. Overall, the results suggested that the biodegradation of rice straw could be improved by using combination culture. The ability of these cultures to enhance biodegradation shows potential to fasten the decomposing period and may be used to manage agriculture waste.

Aims: In this study, we investigate the used of IMO produce from cooked rice in rice straw composting. The objective of this study is to identify the effect of composting using IMO and different combination of biowaste on composting of rice straw. Methodology and results: Different types of treatment were used involving rice straw and goat manure with addition or non-addition of IMO. Composting was done for 30 days in a plastic barrel and was manually turned. Temperature was measured daily while samples were analysed for moisture content, pH value and electrical conductivity (EC). Temperatures in rice straw compost contains goat manure have higher values up to 43 °C. Rice straw compost with treatment of IMO contain prolong thermophilic phase compared to treatment without IMO. pH recorded 7.0-8.7 during the process with slight fluctuation due to the microbial activities present. EC showed higher value in rice straw compost with goat manure due to the present of soluble salt in manure. Throughout the composting time, we observed the reduction of moisture value ranging from 43% to 34%. Microbial succession in compost treated with IMO showed high population with 3.16×10 9 CFU/g for mesophilic microorganism during the initial phase and 7.9×10 8 CFU/g for thermophilic microorganism. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Hence, it can be concluded that the IMO introduce during composting provide higher diversity of microorganisms and could prolong the thermophilic phase, thus accelerating the process of degradation.

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