• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.312-320
• /
• 1996

This study was to investigate the changes of phytotoxicity of food waste during composting at an aerated static pile for 80 days. The concentration of sodium in the final compost increased by more than 30% and almost of the sodium was a water soluble type which corresponds to about 94% of the total concentration. Major volatile fatty acid(VFA) produced during the composting was acetic acid and also somewhat of butyric acid. High concentration of acetic acid during the composting was kept up for a month and then decreased progressively. It suggests that the phytotoxicity by the VFAs produced during composting of food waste could be removed through a stabilization process in a period of about 40 days. From the statistical analysis between germination index(G.I.) and VFAs. or G.I. and sodium, the phytotoxicity of food waste samples was more dependent in the changes of acetic acid concentration than that of sodium concentration. Considering low G.I. value in the final food waste compost which is matured completely, however. the agricultural utilization of the food waste compost may be to have a big problem due to excess sodium of the compost which is impossible to remove by composting and seriously inhibits growth of plants.