# The Quantity and Composition of Leachate from Hop Plant Biomass during Composting Process
## 3 Results and Discussion
### The Impact of Composting Procedure on Biomass Properties Related to Time Stamp
The interaction between Time stamp and Procedure was found to have an s.s. effect on total N (\(p\) = 0) and pH (\(p\) = 0) at the 95% confidence level, but not on total P (\(p\) = 0.0576). Despite the fact that pile LES had the highest NH\({}_{4}\) and total P losses, it also had the highest NH\({}_{4}\)-N and total P content in the final compost. Pile ZUP had the greatest losses of total N in leachate, and also the lowest total N content in the final compost, which suggests that this method of computing is not suitable for a high-quality end product. It appears that to close the biggest gap considering leachate, the compost pile should be covered after the thermophilic phase. Pile LES had the highest NO\({}_{3}\)-N and total N content in the final compost. Pile ROZ had the lowest NH\({}_{4}\), NO\({}_{3}\), total N, and total P content in leachate, as well as the lowest NH\({}_{4}\)-N and NO\({}_{3}\)-N content in the final compost. Overall, pile ROZ had the lowest levels of all nutrients in both leachate and compost. However, this biomass was the least nutrient-rich biomass before the degradation process. All in all, the highest pH value was recorded in pile ZUP - 8.6 in leachate and 8.2 in compost. Composting Pile LES--Correlation between the Precipitation Amount and leachate Amount and Its Parameters  
To gain even better insight, a more detailed overview was made for the LES pile, where the situation was detected the most frequently. Table 5 shows leachate quantity, leached nutrients, and rain distribution related to the sampling date in the compost pile LES. Table 6 shows that all parameters were affected by the amount of precipitation, with the exception of the total P amount in leachate. There was a strong linear correlation between the amount of precipitation and leachate quantity (0.86), NH\({}_{4}\) leached amount (0.87), and total N leached amount (0.92). After heavy rainfall, the number of leached elements increased, which implies that covering piles is crucial to preserve nutrients in compost considering leachate. It can also be seen that the amounts of leached NH\({}_{4}\) and total N are affected by the leachate volume. While NH\({}_{4}\) had an effect on the total N amount in the leachate, NO\({}_{3}\) did not. Even though the statistical analysis showed that rainfall had no significant influence on the amount of P in leachate, we observed increased levels of P in leachate during heavy rainfall in the thermophilic phase in October. Increased concentrations of NH\({}_{4}\)-N in Time stamp 2 (907 mg/kg) and a decrease in NH\({}_{4}\) content in leachate in Time stamp 3 (5765 mg/m\({}^{2}\)) were observed in compost pile LES. A similar observation was made for the total P content, which significantly increased in compost between Time stamps 1 and 2 (4.3 g/kg; 5.7 g/kg) but decreased in leachate between Time stamps 2 and 3 (28.3 mg/m\({}^{2}\); 5.6 mg/m\({}^{2}\)). This proves that covering piles is required to prevent elements from leaking. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Date**} & **Rain Amount from the** & **Average Leachate** & **NH\({}_{4}\)** & **NO\({}_{3}\)** & **Total N** & **Total P** \\  & **Previous Date (mm)** & **Volume (mL/m\({}^{2}\))** & **(mg/m\({}^{2}\))** & **(mg/m\({}^{2}\))** & **(mg/m\({}^{2}\))** & **(mg/m\({}^{2}\))** \\ \hline
18 September 2020 & 0 & 653 & 16.4 & 0.5 & 87.3 & 0.8 \\
24 September 2020 & 1.4 & 1350 & 195.2 & 0.9 & 345.2 & 1.7 \\
5 October 2020 & 91 & 15,003 & 1642.7 & 13.2 & 3936.3 & 19.6 \\
13 October 2020 & 95.8 & 25,667 & 2806.4 & 63.1 & 7424.0 & 31.8 \\
20 October 2020 & 28.4 & 3767 & 567.2 & 17.4 & 1151.1 & 3.1 \\
28 October 2020 & 9.4 & 1420 & 340.1 & 19.5 & 518.8 & 1.2 \\
4 November 2020 & 0.4 & 3333 & 1059.3 & 16.4 & 1445.2 & 1.2 \\
12 November 2020 & 0 & 1147 & 278.5 & 15.1 & 448.3 & 0.9 \\
19 November 2020 & 34.8 & 2500 & 800.8 & 49.7 & 1146.5 & 1.7 \\
14 January 2021 & 170.6 & 18,667 & 5238.3 & 17,411.8 & 10,157.3 & 0.4 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}