LAUSR

Objective The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of four fungal pretreatments on the nutritional value of Camellia seed residues, and to evaluate the feeding value of pre-treated Camellia seed residues for ruminants. Methods Camellia seed residues were firstly fermented by four lignin degrading fungi, namely, Phanerochaete chrysosporium (P. chrysosporium)-30942, Trichoderma koningiopsis (T. koningiopsis)-2660, Trichoderma aspellum (T. aspellum)-2527, or T. aspellum-2627, under solid-state fermentation (SSF) conditions at six different incubation times. The nutritional value of each fermented Camellia seed residues was then analyzed. The fermentation profiles, organic matter degradability and metabolizable energy of each pre-treated Camellia seed residue were further evaluated using an in vitro rumen fermentation system. Results After 5 days of fermentation, P. chrysosporium-30942 had higher degradation of lignin (20.51%), consumed less hemicellulose (4.02%), and the SSF efficiency reached 83.43%. T. koningiopsis-2660 degraded more lignin (21.54%) and consumed less cellulose (20.94%) and hemicellulose (2.51%), the SSF efficiency reached 127.93%. The maximum SSF efficiency was 58.18% for T. aspellum-2527 and 47.61% for T. aspellum-2627, appeared at 30 and 15 days respectively. All the fungal pretreatments significantly improved the crude protein content (p<0.05). The Camellia seed residues pretreated for 5 days were found to possess significantly increased organic matter degradability, volatile fatty acid production and metabolizable energy (p<0.05) after the treatment of either P. chrysosporium-30942, T. koningiopsis-2660 or T. aspellum-2527. The fungal pretreatments did not significantly change the rumen fermentation pattern of Camellia seed residues, with an unchanged ratio of acetate to propionate. Conclusion The fungi showed excellent potential for the solid-state bioconversion of Camellia seed residues into digestible ruminant energy feed, and their shorter lignin degradation characteristics could reduce loss of the other available carbohydrates during SSF.