Comparison of nutritional value, bioactivity, and volatile compounds of soybean meal–corn bran mixed substrates fermented by different microorganisms

To evaluate the impact of fermentation with different microorganisms on the nutritional quality and bioactivity of soybean meal-corn bran mixed substrates (MS), five lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, two Bacillus, and two yeast strains with excellent probiotics were selected for solid-state fermentation of soybean meal and corn bran MS. The fermented mixed substrate (FMS) inoculated with Lacticaseibacillus casei, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, and Lactobacillus acidophilus presents lower risk of infection with pathogenic bacteria, probably due to their low pH and high lactate content. Compared to the FMS with LAB and yeast, Bacillus subtilis and B. pumilus showed significant improvements in nutritional quality and bioactivity, including TCA-SP, small peptide, free amino acids, total phenol, and protein digestibility. More than 300 volatile compounds were identified in FMS, including alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, acids, ethers, furans, pyrazines, benzene, phenols, amines, alkanes, and others. FMS with Bacillus was characterized as containing a greater number of compounds such as ketones, aldehydes, and pyrazines. This study showed that microbial fermented feeds differed with various microorganism, and fermentation was an effective way to improve the quality of soybean meal-corn bran mixed feeds. This study might be the basis for excellent strains screening for multi-microbial combined fermentation in the future.