New wheat straw fermentation feed: recombinant Schizosaccharomyces pombe efficient degradation of lignocellulose and increase feed protein

Abstract

Wheat straw contains a high amount of lignin, hindering the action of cellulase and hemicellulase enzymes, leading to difficulties in nutrient absorption by animals from straw feed. However, currently, the biological treatment of straw relies primarily on fungal degradation and cannot be directly utilized for the preparation of livestock feed. This study focuses on enzymatic co-fermentation of wheat straw to produce high-protein, low-cellulose biological feed, integrating lignin degradation with feed manufacturing, thereby simplifying the feed production process. After the optimization using Box-Behnken Design for the feed formulation, with a glucose oxidase addition of 2.46%, laccase addition of 3.4%, and malonic acid addition of 0.6%, the wheat straw feed prepared in this experiment exhibited a true protein content of 9.35%. This represented a fourfold increase compared to the non-fermented state, and the lignocellulose degradation rate of wheat straw reached 45.42%. These results not only highlight the substantial enhancement in protein content but also underscore the significant advancement in lignocellulose breakdown. This formulation significantly enhanced the palatability and nutritional value of the straw feed, contributing to the industrial development of straw feed.