Project properties |
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Title | Degradation of lignin in Miscanthus using fungi to make it a good ruminant feed |
Group | Animal Nutrition Group |
Project type | thesis |
Credits | 36 |
Supervisor(s) | J.W. Cone, A.F. van Peer |
Examiner(s) | J.W. Cone |
Contact info | john.cone@wur.nl |
Begin date | 2019/09/01 |
End date | 2020/03/01 |
Description | Biomass is abundantly available, but normally not used to feed ruminants. The main limitation to feed agricultural by-products and waste is the high content of lignin in the cell walls. When lignin is degraded, the cellulose and hemicellulose in the cell walls can be used by the microorganisms in the rumen.
Some species of fungi are able to degrade lignin without attacking the valuable cellulose and hemicellulose. The practical work in this project will be the incubation of Miscanthus with 2 species of edible fungi, analyse the chemical composition before and after the fungal treatment and determine the in vitro rumen degradability, using the gas production technique. |
Used skills | |
Requirements | Good laboratory skills are required. This project will be a cooperation between the Animal Nutrition group and the Mushroom Research group (Plant Breeding) |