Abstract: QE agent is a new composite material which contains microorganisms and minerals. In order to investigate the effects of the composite material on composting process and quality of manure, a 7 days composting experiment was conducted. The experiment included three treatments, no additives (CK), adding conventional microbial agent (BJ), and adding QE agent (QE). Pig manure was selected as the material and a vertical closed fermentation tower (capacity of 50 t) was selected as the reaction device. The results showed that at the 3rd day, the composting temperature of QE maximized to 72.7℃. It was earlier than treatment BJ and CK by 2 and 5 days. Besides, the duration of treatment QE whose composting temperature above 55℃ lasted for 4 days, was more than other 2 treatments. Adding QE agent could effectively improve the nutrient contents, and were 2.62%, 3.04%, 2.29% for total nitrogen, phosphorus, kalium, respectively. The nutrient contents of treatment QE were higher than treatment BJ by 16.25%, 2.36%, 4.09%, and higher than treatment CK by 29.00%, 14.72%, 16.84% . Moreover, the composting quality with adding QE agent reached the criterion- “Organic Fertilizer” (NY525-2012), and it was better than the other two treatments. Besides, the germination indexes of treatment QE and BJ were 93.33% and 90.00% at the 7th day. This showed that the piles of the two treatments were totally matured. However, the pile of treatment CK was not matured because of its low germination index (31.67%). In summary, the QE agent enhanced the temperature, strengthened the heat preservation, reduced the nitrogen loss, and improved the composting quality of livestock manure.

Key words: Pig manure, QE agent, Vertical closed fermentation tower, Nutrient content, Composting quality, Interaction between microorganism and mineral