Data-Driven Identification of Favorable Multi-Fungal Inoculation Timing for Enhanced Humic Acid Recovery from Pretreated Crop Straws

Zhang, Peipei; Zhao, Chao; Chen, Kunjie; Xu, Lijun; Chandio, Farman Ali; Zhao, Xiangjun; Li, Bin

doi:10.3390/agriculture16111228

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Data-Driven Identification of Favorable Multi-Fungal Inoculation Timing for Enhanced Humic Acid Recovery from Pretreated Crop Straws

by

Peipei Zhang

¹,

Chao Zhao

¹,

Kunjie Chen

²,

Lijun Xu

¹

,

Farman Ali Chandio

³,

Xiangjun Zhao

¹ and

Bin Li

^1,*

¹

College of Optical, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China

²

College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210031, China

³

Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Sindh Agriculture University, Tando Jam 70060, Pakistan

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Agriculture 2026, 16(11), 1228; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16111228

Submission received: 13 April 2026 / Revised: 23 May 2026 / Accepted: 1 June 2026 / Published: 2 June 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agricultural Biomass Generation and Utilization: Progress, Challenges and Prospects)

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Abstract

Humic acid (HA) production from crop straw is often limited by lignocellulosic recalcitrance and insufficient coordination among functional microorganisms. In this study, a data-driven strategy was developed to evaluate multi-fungal inoculation timing for HA recovery from pretreated straws. Three substrate platforms, namely raw wheat straw (SW), steam-exploded corn straw (SC-SE), and ammoniated steam-exploded rice straw (SR-SE-N), were comparatively evaluated across an 81-run experimental matrix. Pretreatment markedly improved lignocellulose degradation and precursor turnover, with SR-SE-N showing the best humification performance. Based on the selected substrate, a two-factor interaction (2FI) model was established to describe the effects of inoculation timing on HA yield. The model was significant for HA prediction (R² = 0.8768, adjusted R² = 0.8398, predicted R² = 0.7795). Inoculation timing strongly affected HA formation, and within the investigated timing range, the highest HA yield was obtained under simultaneous inoculation of Aspergillus niger, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, and Candida sp. Predicted and experimental HA yields were in close agreement, supporting the reliability of the model. These results indicate that favorable fungal inoculation timing is substrate-dependent and can be effectively identified through data-driven analysis within a bounded experimental range. The study provides a practical basis for improving HA biomanufacturing from pretreated agricultural residues.

Keywords: steam explosion; humification; model-based evaluation; lignocellulosic deconstruction; fungal consortia

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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, P.; Zhao, C.; Chen, K.; Xu, L.; Chandio, F.A.; Zhao, X.; Li, B. Data-Driven Identification of Favorable Multi-Fungal Inoculation Timing for Enhanced Humic Acid Recovery from Pretreated Crop Straws. Agriculture 2026, 16, 1228. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16111228

AMA Style

Zhang P, Zhao C, Chen K, Xu L, Chandio FA, Zhao X, Li B. Data-Driven Identification of Favorable Multi-Fungal Inoculation Timing for Enhanced Humic Acid Recovery from Pretreated Crop Straws. Agriculture. 2026; 16(11):1228. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16111228

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Peipei, Chao Zhao, Kunjie Chen, Lijun Xu, Farman Ali Chandio, Xiangjun Zhao, and Bin Li. 2026. "Data-Driven Identification of Favorable Multi-Fungal Inoculation Timing for Enhanced Humic Acid Recovery from Pretreated Crop Straws" Agriculture 16, no. 11: 1228. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16111228

APA Style

Zhang, P., Zhao, C., Chen, K., Xu, L., Chandio, F. A., Zhao, X., & Li, B. (2026). Data-Driven Identification of Favorable Multi-Fungal Inoculation Timing for Enhanced Humic Acid Recovery from Pretreated Crop Straws. Agriculture, 16(11), 1228. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16111228

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Data-Driven Identification of Favorable Multi-Fungal Inoculation Timing for Enhanced Humic Acid Recovery from Pretreated Crop Straws

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