Wheat straw was fermented by Crinipellis sp. RCK-1, a lignin degrading fungus, under solid state fermentation conditions. The fungus degraded 18.38% lignin at the expense of 10.37% cellulose within 9 days. However, when wheat straw fermented for different duration was evaluated in vitro, the 5 day fungal fermented wheat straw called here “Biotech Feed” was found to possess 36.74% organic matter digestibility (OMD) and 5.38 (MJ/Kg Dry matter) metabolizable energy (ME). The Biotech Feed was also observed to be significantly enriched with essential amino acids and fungal protein by fungal fermentation, eventually increasing its nutritional value. The Biotech Feed upon in vitro analysis showed potential to replace 50% grain from concentrate mixture. Further, the calves fed on Biotech Feed based diets exhibited significantly higher (p<0.05) dry matter intake (DMI: 3.74 Kg/d), dry matter digestibility (DMD: 57.82%), total digestible nutrients (TDN: 54.76%) and comparatively gained 50 g more daily body weight.

The fungal fermented wheat straws as animal feeds have been evaluated for its toxicological and nutritional status in male rats (Holtzman strain). Digestibility of dry matter and other nutrients as well as fiber fractions were found significantly higher (P < 0.05) in straw fermented with either Ganoderma sp. rckk02 (T3) or Crinipellis sp. RCK-1 (T4) than unfermented straw (T1) or straw fermented with Pycnoporus cinnabarinus (T2). The aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2 were either absent or present in permissive levels in T3 and T4 diets and exhibited normal stress enzyme activity in case of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes whereas, rats fed on T2 diet showed elevated levels of stress enzymes (ALT, AST and LDH activity), 100% high morbidity and 8.3% mortality. This study suggests that Ganoderma sp. rckk02 and Crinipellis sp. RCK-1 are efficient in improving the nutritive value of poor quality straw and do not posses any threat for their subsequent use as ruminant feed.

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A2 milk is the milk that contains only the