Microbial fermentation technology for degradation of saponins from peony seed meal

Abstract

Peony seed meal is a very important feed protein raw material with a high potential for development; however, the presence of some anti-nutritional factors, such as saponins, reduces its reusability. This study aimed to establish ideal microbial fermentation conditions for the degradation of saponins in peony seed meal for its subsequent use in poultry feed. First, saponins were extracted via two methods: ethanol extraction and reflux. Then, response surface methodology and orthogonal array testing were used to establish the optimal conditions for the degradation of saponins by (a) liquid fermentation of single bacteria, (b) liquid fermentation of compound bacteria, and (c) solid-state fermentation. The degradation efficiencies were 40.21% (±1.62), 59.82% (±1.54), and 69.31% (±2.95), respectively. The maximum degradation was obtained via solid-state fermentation, and the soluble protein content for this fermentation product was found to be 14% higher than that of unfermented peony seed meal.

Keywords:

• Fermentation
• orthogonal array technique
• peony seed meal
• response surface methodology
• saponin

Author contributions

Sun Zhen: conceptualization, project administration, methodology, formal analysis, data curation, resources, writing—original draft. Zirwa Abdul Rauf: project administration, methodology, data curation, writing—review and editing, formal analysis, investigation. Xiao Fenfen: conceptualization, project administration, methodology, formal analysis, software, writing—original draft. Kai Zhan: conceptualization, methodology, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing. Ma Ruiyu: conceptualization, methodology, resources, project administration, writing. Zaigui Wang: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, funding acquisition, formal analysis, investigation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Major Science and Technology Program of Anhui Province (201903a06020020), the Anhui Industry and Technology System of Poultry Science (AHCYJSTX-06), the Fund of National Nature Science (32070616), and the Fund of State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition (2004DA125184F1725). This work was also supported by the China Agricultural Research System of MOF and MARA (Grant no. CARS-40-K21).