Abstract: In order to improve the understanding of lignocelluloses degradation during composting， a smallscale composting for 112 d was carried out with cow dung and rice chaff as raw materials. The contents of lignocelluloses and the enzyme activities of cellulase， xylanase and βglucosidase were determined， and microorganisms related to cellulose degradation were isolated during the composting process. It was shown that the degradation rates of cellulose and hemicellulose after composting were 5626% and 6147%， respectively， but the content of lignin increased at last. Activities of cellulase and xylanase both increased firstly and reached the maximum value (8575μg glucose·g-1 DW·h-1 and 16565 μg reducing sugar·g-1 DW·h-1, respectively) at the 42nd day， and then decreased till the end of composting. However， the activity of βglucosidase stayed at a relatively high level (279-330 μmol pNPG·g-1 DW·h-1) from day 22 to 42. Microorganisms including Pseudoxanthomonas， Bacillus， Paenibacillus， Ureibacillus and Geobacillus were isolated and identified related to the thermopilic cellulosedecomposing process．

Key words: composting, lignocellulose, thermopilic cellulosedecomposing bacteria