The Nutritional Value Enhancement of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches as Animal Feed Using the Fungus Coprinus Comatus, with Different Numbers of Inoculums and Incubation Times

Abstract

This study aimed to increase the nutritional value of oil palm empty bunches (EFB) as ruminant animal feed by using biological treatment. To achieve this, five fungi species were used, including Trametes Versicolor, Lentinula edodes, Coprinus comatus, Pleurotus sajor-caju, and Trichoderma sp, which were inoculated for 20 days. Furthermore, the study consisted of 2 stages, in the first, the five species were tested for their degradability to lignin. In the second, the results were analyzed for their degradation ability by treating several numbers of inoculums (0.5 ml, 0.75 ml, and 1.0 ml) at different incubation times (20, 30, and 40 days). The results showed that the fungi treatment gave different lignin levels of oil palm empty fruit bunches compared to others. Furthermore, treatment with Coprinus comatus fungi produced the lowest lignin and the highest cellulose levels than others. This species works well compared to other fungi in the delignification of oil palm empty fruit bunches. With the use of Coprinus comatus, the lowest lignin and highest cellulose levels were obtained in a 0.5 ml inoculum treatment and at 30 days incubation time, however, there was no interaction. Conclusively, this study indicated that the application of Coprinus comatus to oil palm empty fruit bunches reduces lignin levels and increases cellulose by 22.04% and 20%, respectively. Consequently, there is an improved nutritional value of oil palm empty fruit bunches.