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In vitro fibrolytic potential of anaerobic rumen fungi from ruminants and non-ruminant herbivores

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Mycoscience

Abstract

In the present study, anaerobic fungi were isolated from different ruminants and non-ruminants; i.e., cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, wild bluebulls, elephants, deer, and zebras; and were identified as Anaeromyces, Orpinomyces, Caecomyces, Piromyces, and Neocallimastix sp., based on their morphological characteristics. These isolates possessed significant in vitro hydrolytic enzyme activities; however, an isolate of Caecomyces sp. from elephant was found to exhibit maximum activity, i.e., filter paper cellulase (Fpase; 21.4 mIU/ml), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCase; 15.1 mIU/ml), cellobiase (37.4 mIU/ml), and xylanase (26.0 mIU/ml). Besides, this isolate also showed the significantly highest ability to digest plant cell-wall contents in vitro. The in vitro dry matter digestibility increased from 45.1 to 48.9% after 48 h of incubation, and the plant cell-wall contents, in terms of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber, decreased from 64.2 to 61.3% and from 31.3 to 29.6%, respectively. These results indicate that such fibrolytic ruminal fungal strains are prevalent in wild herbivores such as elephants, as well as in other ruminants and non-ruminants, and could be exploited as microbial feed additives for improved nutrition and productivity in domesticated ruminants.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express thanks for the research fellowships and funding provided by the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dairy Microbiology Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001, Haryana, India

    Ravinder Nagpal, Anil Kumar Puniya & Kishan Singh

  2. Dairy Cattle Nutrition Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001, Haryana, India

    Jatinder Paul Sehgal

  3. Department of Biotechnology, JMIT Institute of Engineering and Technology, Radaur, Yamuna Nagar, 135133, Haryana, India

    Ravinder Nagpal

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  1. Ravinder Nagpal
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Correspondence to Ravinder Nagpal.

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Nagpal, R., Puniya, A.K., Sehgal, J.P. et al. In vitro fibrolytic potential of anaerobic rumen fungi from ruminants and non-ruminant herbivores. Mycoscience 52, 31–38 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10267-010-0071-6

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