effect of microbial inoculation on composting process: A meta-analysis

Microbial inoculants have been promoted as a strategy to improve compost quality, but general conclusion is hardly be drawn on this topic due to considerable variation between the published studies. This database therefore contains all the necessary information which was used to performed a meta-analysis to estimate the overall effect size of microbial inoculants on carbon, nitrogen, C/N ratio, phosphorus, potassium, pH, germination index, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and humus contents. In addition, this database is used to perform a meta-regression and moderator analyses to determine abiotic and biotic factors influencing the efficacy of microbial inoculants. List of references which are used to perform the meta-analysis are also included in the database. Using this database, we performed a meta-analysis and found out that the beneficial effects of microbial inoculants on total nutrient content, lignocellulose degradation and degree of humification. The microbial inoculant effect size was marginal for bioavailable forms of nitrogen and phosphorus. The microbial inoculants efficiency varies between inoculant forms, inoculation time, composting method and experimental duration, but the effect of feedstock type and experimental scale is limited.