Application of co-cultures of fungal mycelium during solid-state fermentation of canola meal

Описание: This study explores the potential use of co-cultures of fungal strains to improve the nutritional quality of canola meal for feed application. Three generally regarded as safe (GRAS) microbes were assessed individually and in combination under solid state condition to evaluate their use in fermenting canola meal to produce protein concentrate with desirable nutritional characteristics.

Presented at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo Biotechnology Division Student ePoster Pitch Competition
annualmeeting.aocs.org

Presenter:
Ahmad F. Alhomodi, PhD candidate
Graduate Student, Dept. of Biology and Microbiology,
South Dakota State University

Canola meal (CM) is a by-product of canola seed oil extraction and contains up to 50% protein on a dry basis. Despite CM being the high protein commodity with well-balanced amino acid composition, it remains one of the more underutilized by-products of the oil processing industry. Only a fraction of produced CM goes into animal feeds as presence of antinutrients such as phenolics, glucosinolates (GLS), phytates, and high fiber content makes this product undesirable. Mixed microbial cultures have been used successfully in commercial scale, fermentations such as in wastewater treatment plants, for soil remediation, in biogas production, and in the production of traditional foods such as cheese, yoghurt, pickles and in alcoholic beverage production. Thus, in this study, the mono, bi, and tri-cultivation of Aureobasidium pullulans, Neurospora crassa and Trichoderma reesei in solid state fermentation were applied to improve the nutritional value of hexane extracted canola meal along with the reduction of antinational factors for animal feed applications. The data showed that fungal cultivation had positive effects on the level of protein, fiber and, glucosinolates (GLS). Monoculture of N. crassa exhibited the highest protein level of 49%. The combination of A. pullulans and N. crassa provided the highest reduction of crude fiber (CF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) by 21.9%, 1.7% and 9.1% respectively. Bi-culture of A. pullulans and T. reesei resulted in the best GLS reduction by 81.3%. These results indicate that each fungal strain owns different enzymatic ability and selectively can work with other fungi in synergistic relationship for better fungal conversion of canola meal.