Biological treatment of agroindustrial’s wastes from the Tequila Industry with Phanerochaete chrysosporium to increase its digestibility as a supplement feed for ruminants.

Abstract

The bagasse of the Agave Tequilana Weber, blue variety, an agroindustrial waste from the tequila industry was characterized by physicochemical analysis. Physical characteristics indicated that this waste is made up of an heterogeneous fibrous material and a non fibrous organic material in the shape of fine particles. The chemical analysis indicates that it contains 42% of cellulose, 14 %, of lignin, 18.5 % of hemicelluloses, 2.6 % of total nitrogen, 0.8 % of pectin, 1.2 % of oil and greases, 6.2 % of total reducing sugars, and 6.7 % of ashes. According to these analyses it was found that hemicelluloses, lignin and sugars can be used as a complement of animal feed by the reduction of lignin, and for this purpose the increase in digestibility of the agave bagasse was investigated by means of a biological treatment with the Phanerochaete chrysosporium fungus. The semi-solid fermentation was conducted at different humidity levels (20%, 60%, and 80%) and a temperature of 30°C. The sterilized bagasse underwent treatments that achieved a digestibility of 60% after 45 days. On the other hand, non-sterilized bagasse presented a digestibility of 55% after a 21 day-treatment. Untreatedbagasse presented a digestibility of 36%.The optimal humidity for treatment was 80%.