Physico-chemical properties of commercial composts varying in their source materials and country of origin

Composting is a partially controlled bio-oxidative process through which highly heterogeneous organic matter (OM) in its solid-state transforms into a humified material. The variability of the OM undergoing composting makes compost research a great challenge. Our purpose was to define chemical and plant response characteristics of a variety of composts, grouped based on their major source materials. Thirty-seven commercial composts were collected from France, Greece and the Netherlands. When grouped by country of origin, significant differences were found in %OM, %C, %N, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, electrical conductivity (EC) and NO3 concentration. These differences may be attributable to source materials or local regulations and quality control measures. When the composts were classified into 7 groups by their source materials: wood, green, manure, grape marc (GM), oilcake, spent mushroom substrate and municipal solid waste-based composts, significant differences between groups were found in %OM, %C, %N, DOC, pH, EC, NO3 and soluble sugars. Extracts of composts from all groups, except GM and oilcake had absorbance in the UV and visible range that was linearly correlated with DOC. GM and oilcake compost extracts had lower absorbances and distinctly lower specific UV absorbance (SUVA). Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier Transform (DRIFT) spectra of the composts from different source groups also exhibited distinct group features (e.g. the ratio of polysaccharide to aliphatic peak intensity), whereas NMR spectra did not. Cucumber plants grown on manure-based composts had greater fresh weight than those grown on other composts. Plants grown on oilcake and GM composts exhibited low fresh weight. The difference in characteristics of the oilcake and GM composts may be a result of their unique chemical composition which slows their degradation. It may also be related to their relatively low degree of maturity, which is a consequence of their slow degradation.