Effects of sulphamethazine and zinc on the functional diversity of microbial communities during composting

ABSTRACTThe changes in the functional diversity of the microbial community in a compost matrix with a single or compound addition of zinc (Zn; 0, 600, and 1800 mg/kg) and sulphamethazine (SM2; 0, 1, and 25 mg/kg) were studied with the Biolog method during composting. The microbial community was extracted from the compost matrix comprising swine manure and wheat straw at day 6 (themophilic period) and day 25 (mature period) of composting. Results proved that the Shannon index, average well-colour development, and substrate utilization significantly decreased as the concentrations of SM2 and Zn increased on day 6. The negative effect of the combined addition of SM2 and Zn was lower than that of the individual addition of SM2 and Zn. On day 25, the inhibition effect disappeared, and microbial metabolic activities were higher than those on day 6. The effects of SM2 and Zn could be further differentiated via the principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. On day 6, the treatments were divided into...