Degradation of lignocelluloses in straw using AC-1, a thermophilic composite microbial system
Hongdou Liu, Liqiang Zhang, Yu Sun, Guangbo Xu, Weidong Wang, Renzhe Piao, Zongjun Cui, Hongyan Zhao
Abstract
In composting, the degradation of lignocellulose in straw is problematic due to its complex structures such as lignin. A common solution to this problem is the addition of exogenous inoculants. AC-1, a stable thermophilic microbial composite, was isolated from high temperature compost samples that can decompose lignocellulose at 50–70 °C. AC-1 had a best degradation efficiency of rice straw at 60 °C (78.92%), of hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin were 82.49%, 97.20% and 20.12%, respectively. It showed degrad-ability on both simple (filter paper, absorbent cotton) and complex (rice straw) cellulose materials. It produced acetic and formic acid during decomposition process and the pH had a trend of first downward then upward. High throughput sequencing revealed the main bacterial components of AC-1 were Tepidimicrobium , Haloplasma, norank-f-Limnochordaceae, Ruminiclostridium and Rhodothermus which provides major theoretical basis for further application of AC-1.