ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BIOSTARTER FORMULATED FROM RUMEN BACTERIA OF BUFFALO: EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL COMPONENTS OF THE CORN TUMPI

Corn tumpi is an abundantly available agricultural byproduct with good potential for use as feedstuff for ruminants. However, additional enhancement is required to improve the nutrient deficits of corn tumpi to fulfill the required nutritional value for use in the animal diet. Biological methods such as fermentation have been shown to successfully alter the chemical composition of foodstuff using microbes or enzymes as bioactivators. The purpose of this study was to assess the chemical components of corn tumpi after fermentation using a biostarter developed from rumen bacterial of buffalo (BSB). The study was carried out in a completely randomized design using 9 BSB treatments with three replications per treatment. The treatments were T0 = corn tumpi without treatment (control), T1 = corn tumpi + 0.6% commercial biostarter (BSC), T2 = corn tumpi + 0.6% BSB, T3= corn tumpi + 2.5% BSB , T4= corn tumpi + 5.0% BSB , T5= corn tumpi + 7.5% BSB , T6= corn tumpi + 10.0% BSB , T7= corn tumpi + 12.5% BSB , and T8= corn tumpi + 15% BSB. Measured parameters were chemical components (crude fiber, crude protein, nitrogen-free extract, and lipid) of corn tumpi following the 3-week anaerobic fermentation. The results indicated that relative to control, corn tumpi fermented using either BSB or BSC showed a significant change in chemical composition. There were no differences between the BSB and BSC treated corn tumpi. The most optimal BSB level was found to be between 0.6%-5%. In conclusion, the use of BSB in the fermentation of corn tumpi was successful in improving the chemical components of feedstuff,