Enrichment of thermophilic and mesophilic microbial consortia for efficient degradation of corn stalk

Six different environmental samples were applied to enrich microbial consortia for efficient degradation of corn stalk,under the thermophilic and mesophilic conditions.The consortium obtained from anaerobic digested sludge under thermophilic condition(TC-Y)had the highest lignocellulose-degrading activity.The CO2yield was 246.73 m L/g VS in23 days,meanwhile,the maximum CO2production rate was 15.48 mL/(CO2·d),which was28.75%and 52.27%higher than that under mesophilic condition,respectively.The peak value of cellulase activity reached 0.105 U/mL,which was at least 34.61%higher than the other groups.In addition,49.5%of corn stalk was degraded in 20 days,moreover,the degradation ratio of cellulose,hemicellulose and lignin can reach 52.76%,62.45%and42.23%,respectively.Microbial consortium structure analysis indicated that the TC-Y contained the phylum of Gemmatimonadetes,Acidobacteria,Chloroflexi,Planctomycetes,Firmicutes,and Proteobacteria.Furthermore,the Pseudoxanthomonas belonging to GammaProteobacteria might be the key bacterial group for the lignocellulose degradation.These results indicated the capability of degrading un-pretreated corn stalk and the potential for further investigation and application of TC-Y.