Nutritive value and In vitro gas production of fungal treated maize cobs

Studies were conducted to evaluate maize cob cultured with white-rot fungi: Pleurotus ostreatus and P. pulmonarius for 21 days as a means of improving their nutritive value for ruminant animals. The substrates obtained after biodegradation were analyzed for the chemical composition, mineral content and in vitro fermentation. The results of the chemical composition showed an increase in the crude protein from 3.89% (control) to 10.11% for Pleurotus ostreatus treated maize cob (POC) and 7.46% for P. pulmonarius (PPC) treated maize cob. On the contrary, the crude fiber (CF) decreased significantly (p