Comparison of Fecal Microbes' Survival in Soil between Compost Surface Application and Soil Incorporation

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare fecal microbes survival in soil between compost surface application and soil incorporation. The survival experiment was conducted in six styrofoam beds (510 × 325 × 305 (mm) in size) filled with sandy loam soil. A half of six boxes were received by compost surface application, while the other half were treated with compost-soil mixture. Duplicated surface and surbsurface soil (20 cm depth) samples were collected at various interval up to 50 days and analyzed for the determination of fecal coliforms and E. coli numbers. As expected, surface applied beds demonstrated two to three magnitudes order greater in both the study microorganisms as compared to soil incorporated beds. Microbial inactivation rate of soil surface was twice as great as subsurface soil condition probably due to exposure to sun light and environmental conditions including moisture loss. When rainfall occurred, microbes on the surface were transported into soil along with water movement. It was concluded that surface compost application may be easier to apply but pose higher risk of human exposure to microbes. Winter compost application may be favorable in alleviating health risk by giving some time for inactivation compared to spring application.