Combined Application of a Composite Microbial Inoculant and Bulking Agents Improves Chicken Manure Composting

Intensive poultry farming produces substantial volumes of chicken manure that require effective and hygienic management. This study investigated a composite inoculant formulated with four microorganisms: Kocuria rosea ACCC 10488, Bacillus subtilis ACCC 60364, Trichoderma longibrachiatum ACCC 32584, and Lactobacillus plantarum ACCC 11118. This study investigated a composite inoculant formulated with four microorganisms obtained from the Agricultural Culture Collection of China (ACCC): Kocuria rosea ACCC 10488, Bacillus subtilis ACCC 60364, Trichoderma longibrachiatum ACCC 32584, and Lactobacillus plantarum ACCC 11118. Its performance was examined both without amendment and after addition of plant-derived bulking materials. The experiment included five treatments: untreated chicken manure (T1), the bulking-agent mixture without microbial addition (T2), a commercial inoculant combined with the same bulking materials (T3), the newly prepared inoculant without bulking agents (T4), and the newly prepared inoculant combined with the bulking mixture (T5). Three independent 50-kg piles were prepared for every treatment. Temperature was recorded for 45 days; physicochemical characteristics, odor indicators, nutrient concentrations, enzyme activities, seed-bioassay responses, and Ascaris egg mortality were evaluated over the initial 15 days. T5 reached 74 °C on days 5 and 10 and remained above 50 °C through day 30 at the plotted observation points. On day 15, this treatment had lower measured levels of odorous compounds, greater concentrations of available phosphorus and potassium, a 99% germination index, and complete mortality of the assayed Ascaris eggs. Collectively, T5 showed favorable changes across several indicators of early composting performance under the conditions tested. The study did not examine microbial community structure, persistence of the introduced strains, functional genes, whole-pile nutrient mass balances, or longer-term agronomic performance. Consequently, the data neither establish synergistic interactions among the component strains nor identify specific nutrient-transformation pathways.