The standard method for total aerobic plate count was adopted in analyzing the aerobic bacteria in the fermenting material; inoculum, digestate, and solid organic fertilizer in this study employing nutrient agar, eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar, peptone water, and MacConkey agar. All samples were collected aseptically and in triplicates while presumptive isolates were characterized by phenotypic methods and the probable ones further identified using appropriate rapid API kits (BioMerieux, France) as previously reported28 (link)–33 (link).
To characterize the anaerobic bacteria, samples were initially cultured on two enriched media (Reinforced Clostridia medium and blood agar) in anaerobic chambers at 37º C between 5 and 7 days. This was meant to detect members of the Clostridia and other facultative anaerobes in the samples. After this, Brain Heart Infusion agar was employed in fully growing developed colonies followed by counting and recording46 (link). The phenotypic features of the presumptive isolates were determined after which appropriate rapid API kits were used for their final confirmation47 (link). For fungal evaluation, samples were cultured on Potato dextrose agar and grown for 5–7 days before identification by hypha and spore morphology and those of the fruiting bodies48 .
To characterize the anaerobic bacteria, samples were initially cultured on two enriched media (Reinforced Clostridia medium and blood agar) in anaerobic chambers at 37º C between 5 and 7 days. This was meant to detect members of the Clostridia and other facultative anaerobes in the samples. After this, Brain Heart Infusion agar was employed in fully growing developed colonies followed by counting and recording46 (link). The phenotypic features of the presumptive isolates were determined after which appropriate rapid API kits were used for their final confirmation47 (link). For fungal evaluation, samples were cultured on Potato dextrose agar and grown for 5–7 days before identification by hypha and spore morphology and those of the fruiting bodies48 .