The key bacteria as the "Activator" promotes the rapid degradation of organic compounds during the start-up of low-temperature compost.

During composting of chicken manure, the degradation of organic compounds is a key factor affecting the fate of chicken manure in the low temperature environment. Here, we studied the changes of main organic compounds, including carbohydrates, proteins and lipids and the role of key bacteria in composted at 10 °C. The degradation rates of total sugar and protein in inoculation group were 41.11% and 47.63% respectively, which were related to the activities of carbohydrate related enzymes. The key bacteria from composting have better degradation of organic compounds capacities than others, and improve the enzyme activity. Cluster heatmap verified that the microbial community and enzyme activity were the primary driving factors of organic compounds degradation. Thus, the co-regulation of key microbial and enzyme activity made it possible to promote degradation of organic compounds drastically by microbial metabolism. These above findings are beneficial to improving the utilization of livestock manure in cold areas.