Effect of Bioaugmentation with Anaerobic Fungi Isolated from Ruminants on the Hydrolysis of Corn Silage and Phragmites australis

Anaerobic fungi produce extracellular hydrolytic enzymes that facilitate degradation of cellulose and hemicellulose in ruminants. The purpose of this work was to study the impact of three different anaerobic fungal species (Anaeromyces mucronatus YE505, Neocallimastix frontalis 27, and Piromyces rhizinflatus YM600) on hydrolysis of two different lignocellulosic substrates, corn (Zea mays L.) silage and reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.). Biomass from each plant species was incubated anaerobically for 11 days either in the presence of live fungal inoculum or with heat-inactivated (control) inoculum. Headspace gas composition, dry matter loss, soluble chemical oxygen demand, concentration of volatile fatty acids, and chemical composition were measured before and after hydrolysis. While some microbial activity was observed, inoculation with anaerobic fungi did not result in any significant difference in the degradation of either type of plant biomass tested, likely due to low fungal activity or survival under the experimental conditions tested. While the premise of utilizing the unique biological activities of anaerobic fungi for biotechnology applications remains promising, further research on optimizing culturing and process conditions is necessary.