A direct link between aeration rate and diversity of AOA and AOB was estimated.
Bacterial amoA libraries were dominated by Nitrosomonas-related sequence types.
The diversity of AOA was lower than AOB and increased with aeration rate increase.
Oxygen was significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with AOB diversity but not with AOA.
AOB were more important than AOA in nitrification in cattle manure aerated composting.