Physico-chemical and microbiological analyses of fermented corn cob, rice bran and cowpea husk for use in composite rabbit feed

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of fermentation on the proximate composition of corn cob, rice bran and cowpea husk for use in composite rabbit feed formulations. The test ingredients were moistened with tap water and allowed to ferment naturally at room temperature. During fermentation, samples of the fermenting materials were extracted at zero, 24 and 48 h for physico-chemical and microbiological analyses using standard procedures. The microorganisms associated with the fermenting materials were identified as Rhizopus oligosporus, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus niger, Rhodotorula, Geotrichum candidum, Candida albicans, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two (R. oligosporus and S. cerevisiae) out of microorganisms present were used as starter cultures to ferment the test ingredients and the fermented products were then analyzed. From the results obtained S. cerevisiae enhanced the protein and fat contents while R. oligosporus was able to degrade the fiber significantly.