Cellulolytic Fungi Isolation and Identification from Fermetoge, Cattle Feed Composed of Fermented Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and Corn (Zea mays) Cob

Abstract

Fermetoge is fermented feed produced from fermentation of water hyacinth and corn cob mixture, commonly used as cattle feed in East Java, Indonesia. Fermetoge is composed of these cellulose-contained materials easily degraded by cellulase enzymes produced by fungi during fermentation. This study was aimed to isolate fungi from Fermetoge and screen their ability in degrading cellulose. Ten fungi isolates were found from fermetoge, three out of which indicated high cellulolytic activity. The three of them were identified based on partial ITS 1 and ITS 4 gene sequencing as Rhizophus stolonifer, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Penicillium sp., with similarity level of 95%, 100%, and 89% respectively. Isolation and identification of fungi from fermetoge can give insight into cellulose-degrading fungi species to be studied for further developing starter culture and improving the quality of starter-base fermented feed.