Bioconversion of agro-industrial co-products using Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus sajor-caju fungi for ruminant feeding

Abstract

The use of co-products for feeding ruminants, combined with biotechnologies, presents itself as a solution to environmental, social and economic obstacles. The objective of this work was to evaluate the nutritional enrichment of agro-industrial by-products (radish cake,
TN; soybean meal, FS; and sugarcane bagasse, BC), bioconverted by Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus sajor-caju fungi in ruminant feeding. Dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, ash and in vitro digestibility of dry matter (IVDDM) analyzes were performed before and after food bioconversion by the fungi P. ostreatus and P. sajor-caju. The substrates were used in the following proportions: 100% and in the associations TN+FS (50:50), TN+BC (70:30), TN+FS (70:30), and TN+FS+BC (40:40:20). The bioconversion altered the ash, crude protein contents and IVDMD of the co-products used, providing a nutritional enrichment of these substrates to be used in ruminant feed. The cellulose and hemicellulose contents were not reduced in most of the evaluated substrates, however there was a decrease in the levels of ether extract and lignin. The results obtained in this study showed that biotechnological treatments of agroindustrial by-products by fungi become an environmentally correct solution, due to reuse, transforming them into products with greater added value for feeding ruminants.