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Waste Management 28 (2008) 2428–2429
Discussion
Discussion of ‘‘Effect of inoculation in composting processes:
Modifications in lignocellulosic fraction’’
Waste Management 27 (2007) 1099–1107 q
John D.W. Adams
Environmental Technologies Centre for Industrial Collaboration, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
Accepted 17 September 2007
Available online 28 April 2008
As stated ‘the use of inoculants to improve the compo-
sting process has been a controversial subject.’ From a fun-
damental point of view, microbial ecologists can argue that
bacterial diversity can be regarded as deterministic. Baas-
Becking’s 1934 formula, that ‘everything is everywhere
and it is the environment that selects,’ has remained virtu-
ally unchallenged. Tantalisingly, the opportunities pro-
vided by the genomic era suggest that this is not strictly
true (e.g., Whitaker et al., 2003). However, these studies
are regarded as exceptional as opposed to the norm. There-
fore, the suggestion that ‘the composting process can there-
fore be improved by means of inoculation if the
microorganisms used for this purpose are appropriate for
the characteristics of the raw material,’ raises interesting
theoretical as well as applied aspects of environmental
microbiology.
Whilst essentially the experimental approach was
straightforward and sound, beyond this, however, the anal-
ysis and the interpretations drawn are far from satisfactory.
Mean ash contents, obtained from Table 4, were re-ana-
lysed using ANOVA as an appropriate technique to inves-
tigate this dataset. Whilst there was a reduction in power of
this analysis due to fewer replicates, it should be noted that
the original sampling design of taking replicates from com-
posite samples was itself flawed. Results of this analysis
showed significant effects of time, waste type, inoculant
and the interaction between inoculant and waste type (see
Table 6). However, this does not mean that inoculation
by appropriate organisms resulted in improved compo-
q
27, 9. Vargas-Garcı́a, M.C., Suárez-Estrella, F., López, M.J., Moreno,
J. 1099–1107.
Tel.: +44 1482 466499; fax: +44 1482 466884.
E-mail address: j.d.adams@hull.ac.uk
0956-053X/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2007.09.008
www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
sting. In fact the opposite is true since the highest ash con-
tents (and thus lowest organic matter contents) were found
in the control group (see Table 7). Therefore, it might be
more appropriate to report that inoculation by specific bac-
terial types actually significantly inhibited the composting
process. Inoculant effects were the least important factor
as compared with time and waste type effects. Therefore,
when time was removed from the analysis or when the
ash contents were analysed by each time period, in general,
only the waste type effect remained significant. The rela-
tively small differences between the different inoculant
types seen in Table 7 suggest that any inoculant strategy
was not particularly important and that any statistical
significance is not indicative of biological significance.
Analysis of CEC resulted in similar conclusions to
above, whereas analysis of C:N ratio failed to find any par-
ticularly significance of waste type or inoculation (data not
shown).
Results for the lignocellulose fraction were more difficult
to re-analyse. However, the inconsistencies in the data are
apparent. For example, whilst the OMW lignin data showed
significant reductions at day180 for all inoculants, as com-
pared with the control, this was not apparent in the previous
sampling dates (see Fig. 1). Without a plausible biological
explanation and a more rigorous statistical assessment, this
would appear to be a chance result. Furthermore, the OMW
data for ash content (Table 4) and cellulose degradation
(Fig. 1) showed that the control outperformed all other
inoculants. Whilst it was acknowledged that an increased
lignin reduction is generally associated with an increased
degradation of other components of the lignocellulosic frac-
tion, this is clearly not the case in this study. It appears from
visual inspection that the lignin and cellulose concentrations
were to some extent negatively correlated. By reducing the
recalcitrant lignin fraction, it would be expected that any
 J.D.W. Adams / Waste Management 28 (2008) 2428–2429 2429

Table 6 or lignin, is therefore difficult to explain by a straightfor-

ANOVA of ash content ward biological/ecological process.
Source Partial SS df MS F Prob > F By selectively detailing results that positively promote
Model 757.1 19 39.8 33.63 0.0000 the effects of bacterial inoculation, whilst ignoring data
Inoculant 35.6 3 11.8 10.04 0.0000 that suggested the opposite, this study concluded that inoc-
Time 499.3 4 124.8 105.34 0.0000 ulation by certain microorganisms was effective under cer-
Waste type 179.3 3 59.7 50.45 0.0000
Inoculant * waste 42.8 9 4.7 4.01 0.0005
tain circumstances. For this to be true it requires a complex
Residual 71.1 60 1.18 model beyond that conventionally accepted. Therefore, the
lack of generalised trends in the observed data and the
Total 828.2 79 10.48
inconsistency between different parameters is explained,
most parsimoniously, by a lack of any effect of inoculation
Table 7 on the composting process in this instance.
Mean ash contents by inoculant
Inoculant Mean ash content (%) Standard deviation
B. shackletonni 31.06 2.98 References
S. vulgaris 30.58 2.81
U. thermospaericus 32.02 3.49 ten Have, R., Wijngaard, H., Aries-Kronenburg, N.A.E., Straatsma, G.,
Control 32.19 3.56 Schaap, P.J., 2003. Lignin degradation by Agaricus bisporus accounts
for a 30% increase in bioavailable holocellulose during cultivation on
compost. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51, 2242–2245.
shielded cellulose fraction would be made available and Whitaker, R.J., Grogan, D.W., Taylor, J.W., 2003. Geographic barriers
readily degraded (ten Have et al., 2003). The converse result isolate endemic populations of hyperthermophilic archaea. Science
observed, i.e., the preferential reduction of either cellulose 301, 976–978.