Enhancing rice straw compost with an amino acid-derived ionic liquid as additive

•[Gly][Cl] addition reduced the bacterial diversity but increased the abundance.•Thermoactinomyces and the microorganisms insensitive to pH was enhanced.•Lignocellulose degradation and humus synthesis were enhanced by [Gly][Cl].•TN concentration increased because of the decrease of the urease activity.•Amino acid-derived ionic liquids are promising for enhancing the composts. To improve the quality of lignocellulose compost, the effect of a potential new-generation additive—amino acid-derived ionic liquid—on a compost pile comprising 50% rice straw was studied preliminarily. The addition of 1% 1-carboxymethanaminium chloride (glycine hydrochloride [Gly][Cl]) caused observably positive changes in the physical, chemical, and microbiological properties of the compost. After 30 days of composting, the humus and total nitrogen concentrations were 130.85 and 28.8 g/kg, showing an increase of 93.28% and 67.44%, respectively, compared with the concentrations in the beginning of composting; these concentrations were 76.97% and 41.69%, respectively, for the control group (without [Gly][Cl]). Thus, amino acid-derived ionic liquids can be promising additives for enhancing the quality of composts for which straw is used as the primary component.