The effect of fish meal (FM) substitution with fermented soybean meal (FSBM) in the diets of the carnivorous marine fish, black sea bream, Acanthopagrus schlegelii, was investigated. An 8-wk feeding trial was conducted with black sea bream (11.82 ± 0.32 g; mean initial weight) in indoor flowthrough fiberglass tanks (25 fish per tank). Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated, in which FM was replaced by FSBM at 0% (control diet), 10% (FSBM10), 20% (FSBM20), 30% (FSBM30), 40% (FSBM40), or 50% (FSBM50), respectively. Each diet was fed to triplicate groups of fish twice daily to apparent satiation. The results showed that there was no difference in survival of black sea bream during the feeding trial. Fish fed the FSBM10 or FSBM20 diet showed comparable growth performance compared with fish fed the control diet (P > 0.05), whereas more than 30% replacement of FM adversely affected weight gain and specific growth rate (P < 0.05). Feed intake was significantly lower for fish fed the FSBM50 diet compared with fish fed the control diet. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) tended to increase with increasing dietary FSBM with the poorest FCR observed for fish fed the FSBM50 diet. Protein efficiency ratio and protein productive values showed similar patterns. Apparent digestibility of nutrients significantly decreased with increasing dietary FSBM level. With the exception of protein content, no significant differences in whole body and dorsal muscle composition were observed in fish fed the various diets. Fish fed the FSBM50 diet had significantly lower intraperitoneal ratio than fish fed the control or FSBM10 diet. Hepatosomatic index and condition factor were unaffected by dietary treatments. This study showed that up to 20% of dietary FM protein could be replaced by FSBM protein in the diets of juvenile black sea bream.

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Research has shown that a greater variety of enzymes, as well as variety of microorganisms producing enzymes, can have an overall synergistic effect on the decomposition of lignocellulosic biomass for the production of value-added bio-products. Here, 8 cellulase-degrading bacterial isolates were selected to develop co-, tri-, and tetra-cultures for the decomposition of lignocellulosic biomass. Glucose and xylose equivalents released from imitation biomass media containing 0.5% (w/v) beechwood xylan and 0.5% (w/v) Avicel was measured using di-nitrosalicylic acid for all consortia, along with cell growth and survival. Thereafter, 6 co- and 2 tri-cultures with greatest decomposition were examined for ability to degrade Agave americana fiber. Interestingly, when strains were paired up in co-culture, four pairs: G+5, G+A, C+A1, and G+A1 produced high reducing sugars in 24 h: 6 µM, 8 µM, 8 µM, and finally, 6 µM, respectively. From 4 co-cultures with highest reducing sugar equivalents, tri- and tetra-cultures were produced. The bacterial consortia which had the highest reducing sugars detected were 2 tri-cultures: G + A1 + A4 and G + A1 + 5, displaying levels as high as 9 µM and 5 µM in day 1, respectively. All co- and tri-cultures maintained high cell survival for 14 days with 0.5 g ground Agave. Upon evaluating Agave dry weight after treatment, it was evident that almost half the biomass could be decomposed in 14 days. Scanning electron microscopy of treated Agave supported decomposition when compared with the control. These bacterial consortia have potential for further study of value-added by-product production during metabolism of lignocellulosic biomasses.

A cellulase hyperproducing mutant strain, JNDY-13, was obtained using the ARTP mutation system and with Trichoderma reesei RUT-C30 as the parent strain. Whole-genome sequencing of JNDY-13 confirmed that 105 of the 653 SNPs were point mutations, 336 mutations were deletions and 165 were insertions. Moreover, 99 mutations were insertions and duplications. Among all the mutations, the one that occurred in the galactokinase gene might be related to the production of cellulases in T. reesei JNDY-13. Moreover, the up-regulation of cellulase and hemicellulase genes in JNDY-13 might contribute to higher cellulases production. Under optimal conditions, the highest cellulase activity by batch fermentation reached 4.35 U/ml, and the highest activity of fed-batch fermentation achieved was 5.40 U/ml.