Abstract
The silicon content in livestock manure compost was investigated and a simple estimation method was developed. A total of 87 compost samples, including 77 cattle manure compost (CMC) samples, 6 swine manure compost (SMC) samples and 4 poultry manure compost (PMC) samples were used. These were produced by farmers or compost production companies in Yamagata Prefecture. The results were as follows.
1) The silicon content of CMC ranged from 12.1 to 307.8g kg−1 dry weight (DW) with an average of 95.4g kg−1 DW. The silicon content of SMC was between 9.5 and 79.6g kg−1 DW with an average of 34.1g kg−1 DW. For PMC, it was between 2.4 and 36.1g kg−1 DW with an average of 16.8g kg−1 DW.
2) A significant negative correlation was obtained between carbon (x) and silicon (y) contents in CMC: (y = −0.75x + 354, r = −0.904). A significant positive correlation was obtained between ash (x) and silicon (y) contents in CMC: (y = 0.44x−39.8, r = 0.970). Therefore, silicon content in CMC can be estimated from carbon or ash content.
