Generating electricity of rumen microorganisms using microbial fuel cell and comparison with in vitro gas production

The experimental feedstuffs included soybean meal, whole cottonseed, corn seed, and alfalfa hay. The homemade microbial fuel cell (MFC) configuration consisted of two plexiglass cylinders (dual-chambered) for the MFC trial. According to obtained results, corn seed produced the highest in vitro gas in all the incubation times, and the differences were significant (p < 0.01). The alfalfa hay had the lowest (p < 0.05) GP with incubation time progression compared to other treatments. At 2-24 h of incubation, alfalfa showed higher power output voltage compared to other treatments (p < 0.05). Still, in the next incubation hours (24 to 120 h), soybean meal showed higher amounts compared with other treatments. The results of simple correlation analysis showed that MFC traits and other parameters (in vitro gas production and chemical composition) had the highest positive correlations. The results of stepwise regression analysis showed that the highest R-square was related to NFC, which entered into the model in the first step.