Biodynamic preparations on static pile composting from prickly pear cactus and moringa crop wastes

Biodynamic agriculture, which considered biodynamic preparations (BP) and compost as essential to farms sustainability, surged as an alternative almost a century ago. Composting is a way to obtain either biofertilizers or soil amendments, whereas the static piles method reduces energy and cost because no turnings are needed. The present study aims to evaluate the BP effect on physical, chemical and biological properties of static piles compost from prickly pear cactus and moringa crop wastes (regional principal substrates) over 100 days of composting. The experiment was carried out in an organic farm (Nuevo Leon, Mexico) considering four treatments: T1, Prickly pear cactus+BP; T2, Moringa+BP; T3, Prickly pear cactus and T4, Moringa. Results showed significantly higher bacterial activity (p<0.05) in T1 (until 1.38x10(10) CFU), therefore it had the highest temperatures and mineralization. Treatments with prickly pear cactus attained the highest temperatures, compared with those with moringa (significantly in 71% of total sampling days, p<0.05). An aerobic environment was maintained by the passive aeration system (holed PVC pipes placed at the bottom layer). The final material was considered to be sanitized, according to Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli and Salmonella/Shigella analysis for quality control. Results indicate the BP efficiency on regional substrates decomposition, by using the static piles method.