The Mixing Effect of Decomposed Manure as Bulking Agent in Composting of Dairy Cow Manure

According to the volumetric mixing rate of dairy cow manure (DCM) and moisture control materials such as decomposed manure (DM) and sawdust (S), 6 reactors (DCM only (R1), DCM : DM = 1:1 (R2), DCM : DM = 1.5:0.5 (R3), DCM : DM = 0.5:1.5 (R4), DCM : DM:S = 1:0.5:0.5 (R5) and DCM : S = 1:1 (R6)) were used for composting of dairy cow manure. Among the composting reactors, composting reactor of R5 was shown the highest temperature of the compost as a $66^{\circ}C$ during composting period. After 3 weeks composting, moisture content of R5 and R6 were 51% and 51.3%, respectively. These values were satisfied with the moisture content standard of livestock manure compost of Korea. We concluded that decomposed manure may be a good moisture control material for dairy cow manure composting when it is used in mixture with sawdust. The optimum volumetric mixing ratio of dairy cow manure and moisture control materials was 50% of livestock manure, 25% of decomposed manure and 25% of sawdust.