Moderately delayed maturation of composting promotes the reduction of guild-plant pathogenic fungi within vegetable waste.

ABSTRACT

The relationships among the relative abundance of guild-plant pathogenic fungi, compost maturation index, and microbial community variation during vegetable waste composting, which are influenced by the C/N ratio, remain poorly understood. To address this, fungal communities were analyzed in composting treatments with C/N ratios of approximately 15 (CN15) and 25 (CN25), using vegetable waste as the primary raw material. The CN15 treatment showed greater microbial community variation and a better overall compost maturation index value than the CN25 treatment. However, the CN25 treatment had a greater decline in plant-pathogenic fungi than the CN15 treatment. Notably, the relative abundance of guild-plant pathogenic fungi was significantly negatively related to the compost maturity index in the CN25 treatment, while no significant relationship was observed in the CN15 treatment. This study suggests that the moderately delayed maturation of composting is beneficial for reducing guild-plant pathogenic fungi in vegetable waste.