Abstract
An the livestock production in Japan is industrialized, a tremendous amount of animal wastes is being produced annually, resulting in serious environmental pollution problems. Animal wastes could be pollutants, but they are also important sources of fertilizer nutrients and organic matter. Composting is an effective way of promoting the increased utilization of animal wastes. The characterization of maturing process during composting is important in order to improve the composting technology and to develop and efficient method to estimate the degree of maturity. The rise and fall in temperature, and changes in the constituents of the compost, reflect the maturing process and may serve as indicators for maturation. In addition, the detection of nitrate by diphenylamine, the determination of cation-exchange capacity (CEC), and the germination test, are also recommended as the methods of estimating the degree of maturity. The heavy applications of animal manure and compost may cause an adverse effect on soils and crops. When excess manure is applied, the nitrogen will be accumulated in soil, resulting in accumulation of nitrate in crops and pollution of the groundwater. Guidelines for application rates are recommended, to maintain soil productivity and quality of crops, and to prevent the environmental pollution.