Pilot composting of swine manure mixed with rice straw was carried out to evaluate performance characteristics of three aeration systems: forced aeration, passive aeration and natural aeration. It was expected to provide academic basis for farmers to select an advisable aeration system. The results showed that the thermophilic durations were long enough to satisfy the sanitary standard, and swine manure could reach maturity. The indexes of the composting, including physical changes, pH value, TOC, OM, TKN, WSC, WSN, solid C/N ratio; water-soluble C/N ratio, TOM, NH4+-N, (NO3-+ NO2-)-N, and GI had no significant difference among the treatments (P > 0.05) except the average temperature profiles (P-12 = 0.001, P-13 = 0.036). Economic analysis showed that a passive aeration system was suitable for a small-scale swine farm, and forced aeration system should be considered to apply in the middle and large-scale swine farms with a high extent of industrialization. But, in order to avoid too high temperature occurring during composting, an active aeration control system needed to be developed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.