The biological mechanism of a lower carbon/nitrogen ratio increases methane emissions during vegetable waste composting.

The initial carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio is one of the most important factors impacting composting processes, such as methane (CH) emissions. However, the effects of the C/N ratio on CH emissions and the associated biological mechanisms during vegetable waste composting are largely unknown. In this study, a lab-scale experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different C/N ratios on CH emissions and the mechanisms associated with methane-metabolizing microorganisms (methanogens and methanotrophs) during capsicum straw composting. The initial C/N ratios were set to 18, 30 and 50 to simulate the low (L), medium (M) and high (H) C/N ratios, respectively. The results showed that CH emissions were mainly concentrated in the thermophilic phase and that the cumulative CH emissions were significantly greater in the L treatment than in the M and H treatments by 10.8 and 15.4 times, respectively. During the methanogenic process, the relative abundance of the dominant genus Methanoculleus (47.59 % ∼ 76.92 %) was higher than in the L treatment than in the M and H treatments at the thermophilic and maturation stages, and the Chao1 index and the mcrA gene abundance followed the order of L > M > H at each composting stage. During the methanotrophic process, the dominant genus unclassified_d_bacteria (51.3 % ∼ 91.87 %), Chao1 index, pmoA gene abundance and CO emissions were in the order of L > M > H at each composting stage. This pattern suggests that a lower C/N ratio simultaneously enhanced CH production and oxidation. A structural equation model further revealed that the methanogenic community, which was driven directly by the relative contents of hemicellulose and cellulose in the substrates, as indicated by the C/N ratio, made greater contributions to CH emissions than did the methanotrophic community. In conclusion, a lower C/N ratio increased CH emissions mainly by regulating the population and composition of methanogen community.