Identification of the bacterial community of compost tea made from composted and pelleted poultry litter

Abstract

This thesis focuses on determining the bacterial community in compost tea ferments manufactured from the composted and pelleted poultry litter utilizing the method of metagenomic sequencing. I analyzed ten representative DNA contigs, and determined which of these classified bacterial taxa as provided by the two NCBI databases. The results are then using several beneficial bacteria, Bacillus cereus and Paenibacillus lautus, which has been reported to benefit the soil fertility as well as the health of plants. Using information retrieved from database results and taking strict identity thresholds, it was possible to identify bacteria at various taxonomic levels. The findings underline the environmental prospect of the target product, compost tea, relative to synthetic fertilizers. This study also identifies the need for more safety assessments in order to monitor antibiotic-resistance bacteria in organic fertilizers.