A biological method to improve ruminal forage degradation in dairy cattle

The goal of this four-year project is to improve efficiency of food, biochemical and bioenergy production systems through enhancing availability of plant biomass for degradation in the rumen or biofuel digesters.

Feruloyl esterase producing microorganisms that can break linkages between hemicellulose and lignin in plant cell wall and which are compatible with the silage ecosystem are identified and used as silage inoculants. Already known feruloyl esterase producing microorganisms and any new microorganisms, identified from a shotgun metagenomic study, are screened. Treated silages are evaluated by in vitro rumen degradability trials and tested for productions of bioethanol and biogas. The project is in a starting phase and progresses made will regularly be posted. Some parts of the project will be carried out at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany and University of Tennessee, USA.

Project manager:

Kamyar Mogodiniyai Kasmaei