This study aimed to investigate the bacterial communities in mushroom compost piles composed of rice straw, corn stover, and cow dung. Bacterial com- munities of samples at the beginning of composting, at the end of fermentation phase I and II were collected and analyzed using Polymerase Chain Reaction-De- naturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis （PCR-DGGE） based on 16S rDNA universal primers from Escherichia coli. A total of 56 different clone sequences were obtained （GenBank accession number： KF630598-KF630653）. They were classified into seven phyla and 42 genera. Dominant microflora during composting belonged to phylum Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria, with the dominant genera of Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Thermomonospora, Thermasporomyces, Pseudomonas, and Cellvibrio. Bacterial diversity （Shannon index） analysis showed that bacterial species in com- post pile composed mainly of rice straw continuously increased during composting, while those in compost pile composed mainly of corn stover firstly increased and then reduced. Principal component analysis showed that corn stover compost sam- ples at the end of fermentation phase I and phase II were clustered into one group, suggesting that corn stover composted faster than anticipated. In general, rice straw compost has higher bacterial diversity but longer composting time period, while corn stover compost has lower bacterial diversity but shorter composting time period.
