Enhancement in in Vitro Digestibility of Wheat Straw Obtained from Different Geographical Regions during Solid State Fermentation by White Rot Fungi

The study was carried out to find out the differences in the chemical composition of wheat straw obtained from three different regions of India, to compare their susceptibility to fungal degradation, and subsequently to evaluate the correlation between lignin loss and improvement in in vitro digestibility. Four Phlebia species were used to degrade different wheat straw samples during 30 days of incubation. In wheat straw obtained from central zone of India, most of the fungi were more selective in ligninolysis, with a moderate loss in total organic matter. The best found fungus, P. brevispora, enhanced the in vitro digestibility from 172 to 287 g/kg in north western, 165 to 275 g/kg in north eastern, and 145 to 259 g/kg in central zone with a respective loss of 163, 129, and 105 g/kg in total organic matter. Other three fungi P. fascicularia, P. floridensis, and P. radiata were also able to enhance the in vitro digestibility of all the wheat straw samples up to a significant extent. The study demonstrated that selective ligninolytic behaviour of fungi is influenced by the overall composition of wheat straw as governed by geographic location.