Abstract

Paddy straw pretreated with Coriolus versicolor MTCC 138, is a ligno-cellulolytic fungus,used to enhance its biodegradability. The potential of microbial pretreatment on paddy straw digestibility was investigated at regular intervals of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days by determining the change in proximate (TS% & VS%) chemical composition (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and silica content). Results suggest that, 5 days of pretreatment was appropriate. The pretreatment significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced the concentrations of cellulose, lignin and silica in the paddy straw by 19.3, 19.1 and 32.5%, respectively. Thepresent data showed that C. versicolor is capable of producing high quantity of ligno-cellulolytic enzymes for the reduction of lignocellulose biomass in less incubation time. However, biogas production was found to increase by 26.2% in 5 days pretreated sample.

Key words: Paddy straw, pretreatment, silica, Coriolus versicolor, biogas production.