In article ,
Peter wrote:


The only common high nitrogen materials in compost come from kitchen
waste, dead animals and when you throw out a pack of MATURE dried
peas, beans etc. Almost everything else is fairly low. And nothing
less than putting large lumps of meat or dead animals on the heap is
likely to change the decomposition to being one dominated by the
protein-reducing organisms -

you lost me he What are the protein-reducing organisms? Otherwise, very
interesting!

Dunno! But then, I don't have a clue what more than a couple of
(probably thousands) of species of organism active in composting
are. The point is that different organisms are specialised for
different environments, and you get a very different mixture that
will break down most plant material than will break down meat.

In particular, organisms that break down complex proteins need to
be able to produce the enzymes that break the peptide (?) bonds to
reduce the proteins to usable components - and the typical plant
decomposition organisms can't do that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679