The effect of bacteria inoculation on the lignocellulose degradation and the microbial properties during cow dung composting

The goal of this work was to explore the potential effects of bacteria inoculation on the lignocellulose degradation and the underlying microbial mechanism during cow dung composting. The results suggested that bacteria inoculation better-accelerated temperature rose and increased thermophilic phase. Compared to the control (without inoculation, CK), the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin degradation rates of treated group (EG) increased from 53.3% to 70.0%, 50.2% to 61.3% and 46.4% to 60.0%, respectively. The microbial community structure and diversity were obviously changed by inoculation. Moreover, inoculation contributed to modulate the key compost microbial functional populations linking to the degradation of lignocelluloses by stamp analysis. Correlation matrix analysis indicated that the expression of bacterial lingo-cellulolytic enzymes were closely related to the key microbial functional populations. Overall, the results confirmed the importance of bacteria inoculation and have important implication for promoting the efficiency and quality of cow dung compost.