Effect of Fusarium sp. on Paddy Straw Digestibility and Biogas Production

Chopped and moist paddy straw was pretreated with Fusarium sp. to enhance its digestibility and biogas production. The potential of microbial pretreatment of paddy straw was investigated at regular interval of 5, 10, 15 and 20 days by determining the change in Chemical composition of paddy straw like cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and silica contents. The pretreated straw was used for biogas production in 2l capacity biogas digesters. Results indicate that the cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and silica contents decreased by 17.2%, 3.4%, 27.1% & 16.5% respectively. Biogas production also increased by 53.8% in 10 days pretreated samples. The significantly higher reduction of silica along with lignin content in the pretreated straw indicates that removal of silica by Fusarium sp. might be more responsible for increasing paddy straw digestibility and biogas production.