Pretreatments of Broussonetia papyrifera: In vitro assessment on gas and methane production, fermentation characteristic, and methanogenic archaea profile

Dong, Lifeng; Gao, Yanhua; Guo, Huiping; Zhang, Hongsen; Lai, Qi; Diao, Qiyu

doi:.0.0.0

Article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.20.0503 [Accepted] Published online November 9, 2020.

Pretreatments of Broussonetia papyrifera: In vitro assessment on gas and methane production, fermentation characteristic, and methanogenic archaea profile

Lifeng Dong¹

, Qiyu Diao^1,*

¹Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Sino-US Joint Lab on Nutrition and Metabolism of Ruminant/CAAS-CIAT Joint Laboratory in Advanced Technologies for Sustainable Agriculture, Beijing, 100081, China
²College of Life Science and Technology, South Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China
³College of Life Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China

Correspondence: Qiyu Diao, Tel: +86-010-82106055, Fax: +86-010-62166878, Email: diaoqiyu@caas.cn

Received: 20 July 2020 • Revised: 15 September 2020 • Accepted: 20 July 2020

Abstract

Objective
The present study was conducted to examine the gas production, fermentation characteristics, nutrient degradation, and methanogenic community composition of the rumen fluid culture with Broussonetia papyrifera (B. papyrifera) subjected to ensiling or steam explosion (SE) pretreatment.
Methods
Fresh B. papyrifera was collected and pretreated by ensiling or steam explosion, which was then fermented with ruminal fluids as ensiled B. papyrifera (BPS) group, steam-exploded B. papyrifera (BP-SE) group, and untreated B. papyrifera (BP) group. The gas and methane production, fermentation characteristics, nutrient degradation, and methanogenic community were determined during the fermentation.
Results
Cumulative methane production was significantly improved with SE pretreatment compared with ensiled or untreated biomass accompanied with more volatile fatty acids production. After 72 h incubation, SE and ensiling pretreatments decreased the acid detergent fiber contents by 39.4% and 22.9%, and neutral detergent fiber contents by 10.6% and 47.2%, respectively. Changes of methanogenic diversity and abundance of methanogenic archaea corresponded to the variations in fermentation pattern and methane production.
Conclusion
Compared with ensiling pretreatment, SE can be a promising technique for the efficient utilization of B. papyrifera, which would contribute to the sustainable livestock production systems.

Keywords: Broussonetia Papyrifera; Steam Explosion; Ensiling; In Vitro; Methanogenic Archaea