Bioconversion of oil palm empty fruit bunches into soil conditioner using in-vessel composting technique

The composting of oil palm empty-fruit-bunches using in vessel composting after 100 days revealed physical properties of the compost changing as the composting proceeded The colour of the compost from brown at day 0 changed to blackish at day 100. The odour changed from ammonia smell to earthly smell at day 100. The nutrients were observed to reduce as the composting continued, phosphorus was observed to increase from 40.2mg kg ^-1 at day 0 to 96.4mg kg ^-1 at day 100. Temperature reduced from 31⁰C at day 0 to 29⁰C at day 100. pH value of the compost ranged between 7.50 and 7.82. Moisture content increased from 62 at day 0 to 73 at day 100. The cured compost at day 100 was considered stable for use as soil conditioner judging by the results of the nutrient analysis. Microorganisms, bacteria and fungi were isolated and identified and their total colony count determined. Total Bacterial Count ranged between 5.5 CFU/g and 21.8 CFU/g. Total Fungal Count ranged between 1.5 CFU/g and 4.8 CFU/g. Bacteria isolated and their percentage frequency of occurrence were Pseudomonas sp with the highest percentage frequency of occurrence of 28%, Bacillus sp with 20%, Micrococcus sp with 16%, Staphylococcus sp and Acinebacter sp with 12%, Citrobacter sp with 8% and Enterobacter with 4%.  Fungal isolates with percentage of frequency were Penicillium sp with highest percentage frequency of occurrence 31.25%, Alternaria sp 18.75%, Aspergillus sp and Trichoderma sp and Rhizospus with 12.50%, Fusarium sp and Mucor sp with  6.25%.