Lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose were degraded by the monoand co-culture, and hemicellulose was quickly degraded with time (Fig. 2). I. lacteus CD2 monoculture degradation ratios of cellulose and hemicellulose were higher than that of A. polytricha AP monoculture. These results suggested that the degradation ratios of cellulose and hemicellulose were linear to FPA and xylanase activities. A. polytricha AP monoculture degraded hemicellulose to a limited extent during the first 5 days, after 5 days quickly degraded hemicellulose. After 10 days, the hemicellulose degradation ratio decreased.
Co-culture degradation ratios of cellulose and hemicellulose exceeded that of both monocultures. The coculture
of I. lacteus CD2 with A. polytricha AP had a synergetic effect on the cellulose and hemicellulose degradation. This result agreed fairly well with the data reported by other investigators [18,19]. Parani and Eyini showed that the co-culture of Pleurotus flabellatus with Pleurotus eous or Phanerochaete chrysosporium resulted in an enhancement of holocellulose (cellulose, hemicellulose) degradation and an enhancement of the reducing sugar content [19]. I. lacteus CD2 could significantly degrade lignin despite no ligninase detected (Fig. 1E, [20]), and the degradation ratio exceeded
that of A. polytricha AP during 25 days incubation period. The coculture lignin degradation ratio was between that of A. polytricha AP and I. lacteus CD2 and increased quickly during the first 20 days, then trended to exceed that of I. lacteus CD2 after 20 days of biodegradation. So, the co-fungal culture shows advantages in degradation of lignocellulose and destruction of the lignocellulose structure.