Effects of rice straw fermented with spent Pleurotus sajor-caju mushroom substrates on milking performance in Alpine dairy goats

OBJECTIVE: To improve the feeding value of rice straw (RS), this study evaluated the potential of rice straw fermented with Pleurotus sajor-caju (FRS) as dairy goat feed. METHODS: Spent Pleurotus sajor-caju mushroom substrate was used as fungi inoculum to break the lignocellulose linkage of rice straw, which was solid-fermented at 25°C to 30°C for 8 weeks. The ruminal degradation of pangolagrass hay (PG), FRS, and RS were measured in situ for 96 hours in three dry Holstein cows, respectively. Effect of fungi fermented RS on milking performance was studied in feeding trials. A total of 21 Alpine goats a trial were divided into 3 groups: a control group in which PG accounted for 15% of the diet dry matter, and FRS or RS was used to replace the PG in the control group. Goats were fed twice a day under two 28-day trial in individual pens. Meanwhile, a 3×3 Latin square trial (14 days/period) was conducted to study the rumen digestion of three diets by using three fistulated dry goats. Rumen contents were collected for metabolite analyses every one to three hours on the last two days. RESULTS: In situ study showed that fermentation could elevate the rumen degradable fraction and effective degradability of RS (p<0.05). Effective degradability of FRS dry matter was significantly increased from 29.5% of RS to 41.7%. Lactating trial results showed that dry matter intake and milk yield in the PG group and FRS group were similar and higher than those in RS group (p<0.05). The concentration of propionic acid and total volatile fatty acid in the RS group tended to be lower than those in PG group (p<0.10). There were no differences in rumen pH value and ammonia nitrogen level among the groups tested. CONCLUSION: Fermentation of rice straw by spent Pleurotus sajor-caju mushroom substrate could substantially enhance its feeding value to be equivalent to PG as an effective fiber source for dairy goat. The fermented rice straw is recommended to account for 15% in diet dry matter.