title: Nutritional and toxicological assessment of white-rot fermented animal feed.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Lignocellulose Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, 110021 India ; Department of Microbiology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, 124001 India.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Bhuvnesh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shrivastava
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nandal
authors.forename: Neeta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sehgal
authors.forename: V R B
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Sastry
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalra
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Kuhad
keywords: Aflatoxin; Solid-state fermentation; Wheat straw; White-rot fungi