Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Borazjani, Abdolhamid

Committee Member

Stokes, C. Elizabeth

Committee Member

Lim, Hyungsuk

Date of Degree

8-10-2018

Original embargo terms

Worldwide

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Sustainable Bioproducts

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Sustainable Bioproducts

Abstract

A three-month study evaluated composting of cross laminated timber (CLT) sawdust amended with 10% and 20% chicken litter. Moisture was provided by rainwater or deionized water depending on the precipitation. The contents in the containers were mixed once or twice a week for aeration. Samples were collected at 0, 45, and 90-day intervals to measure weight loss, moisture content, pH, compost maturity, microbial count, and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. Results indicated that composted CLT with 20% chicken litter had much higher weight reduction than others at day 45 and 90. Treatments with 10% and 20% chicken litter had a higher initial pH than controls and showed a slow increase near to neutral 7 by day 90. The germination rate of radish seeds to measure the compost maturity showed that composted CLT with 20% chicken litter had significantly higher germination rate than the others at days 45 and 90. A greenhouse study of composted material showed also that the 20% treatment could be used as soil amendment due to its excellent C/N ratio but appears to be unsuitable for container media. Longer composting time is suggested for CLT sawdust to be cured and used for potting media.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/21199

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