Use of Fungi and Solid State Fermentation to Improve the Nutritive Value of Corn Stover

Digestibility and efficient use of crop residues by cattle is limited by the presence of lignin. However, solid state fermentation (SSF) of these residues with white rot fungi (WRF) results in the breakdown of lignin with concomitant release of nutrients and bioactive compounds which could benefit cattle productivity. Batch culture technique was used in the present study to evaluate the potential of utilizing SSF with WRF to improve dry matter (DM) digestibility of corn stover in ruminants. Five dietary treatments consisting of mixtures of corn stover and Kudzu in varying ratios (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100) were inoculated with Pleurotus ostreatus and subjected to SSF for 0, 35 and 77 days. Treatments consisted of mixtures of corn stover (C) and Kudzu (K) as 1) 100C:0K, 2) 75C:25K, 3) 50C:50K, 4) 25C:75K, or 5) 0C:100K, fermented for 0, 35 and 77 days. The study was arranged as a 5 x 3 factorial design with 3 replicates. Treatment effect (P0.05) between treatments 3, 5, and the control. Numerically, the ranking of their IVDMD values from the highest to the lowest is: 4\u3e2\u3e5\u3econtrol\u3e3\u3e1. Based on our results, subjecting crop residues to SSF removes the limitation that lignin typically place on their utilization in ruminants