Leaves Composting Process and the Influence of Rumen Content and Bran Addition

Abstract

Leaves on the Diponegoro University campus were sent to the university’s solid waste facility for composting. A modification of the normal composting process was implemented to speed up the process. In this study, the content of cattle rumens and rice bran were added to accelerate the composting process. Three samples with different composition were prepared (sample code: L, L-R, and L-B). Sample L contained leaves only, sample L-R comprised of leaves with rumen content added and sample L-B consisted of leaves with the addition of rice bran. The results indicated that a maximum temperature of 60.2°C was reached in the L-B sample, while the temperature of compost and L-R was about 30°C. The lowest pH was 6.76 found on the L sample, with sample L-B and L-R having pH of 6.7 and 6.9, respectively. The quality of the mature compost of all variation was about the same, but the compost in sample L-B produced the highest C/N ratio of the three composts, about 20% higher.