Spectral Characterization and Indexing Methods for the Quality Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Compost Prepared Using Novel Bacterial Consortia

Composting is one of the integral components of the global circular bio-economy platform. However, traditional composting contains major limitations, including its longer time requirement and the formation of odour. Therefore, the inoculation of efficient novel bacterial consortia for compost process modification is a global concern. Furthermore, the assessment of compost quality is crucial because immature compost can cause phytotoxicity, disrupt soil structure, and damage the natural ecological balance when used in agriculture. Conversely, there is no universally applicable procedure to determine compost quality, maturity, and stability. This study focuses on assessing the quality of compost produced by five novel microbial consortia using indexing and spectroscopic methods. Clean Index (CI), Fertilizing Index (FI), Germination Index (GI) and Vigor Index (VI) were used as indexing methods to assess the phytotoxicity and compost quality. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X Ray Diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) techniques were used for spectroscopic analysis of compost microstructure. The results revealed that out of all compost samples (including the control), the compost made by Consortium 5 (C5) recorded a significantly greater (p