Influence of soluble content losses on the ability of aerobic fungi to improve the nutritional content of pre-treated forages

Abstract

Fungal improvement of the nutritive content of low-quality forages can be affected by several factors among which loss of water-soluble content (WSC) plays a major role. To achieve this aim, two growth conditions i.e. forage-liquid ratios (1:3 and 1:5) and two inoculation times (14 and 28 days) were used to cultivate the selected fungi i.e. Pleurotus ostreatus (PO) at 30°C and Ceriporiopsis rivulosus (CR) at 20°C on Brachiaria decumbens (BD), Andropogon gayanus (AG), Triticum aestivum (TA) straw, Lolium perenne (LP), respectively with the view of selecting the optimal conditions that facilitate the release of WSC. The impact that losses of WSC have on the ability of fungi to improve the nutritive content (i.e. proximate, fibre, secondary metabolites and total antioxidant content) of the forages were then measured using 2 filtering methods i.e. light pump filtering method (LFM) and free flow filtering method (FFM). The optimal conditions that supported increased th soluble was identified as 28th day for both fungi; forage-liquid ratio of 1:5 for both fungi in most of the forages except BD (CR) and BD & AG (PO). The LFM led to lesser or no improvement in the nutritive quality of the upgraded forages while the opposite was recorded with the LFM. The LFM as against the FFM produced upgraded forages with lesser reduction in NDF; similar or higher ADF and lignin contents; and similar reduction in secondary metabolites and TAC when compared with un-improved forages. It can be concluded that the fungal improvement of the nutritive content of low-quality forages was negatively affected by the loss of WSC. It is therefore recommended that fungal improvement of the nutritive quality of low quality forages should be carried out with methods or techniques that facilitates little or no WSC loss in the upgraded forages.