As. Mishra et al., Effect of sodium hydroxide and alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment on physical and chemical characteristics and IVOMD of mustard straw, ANIM FEED S, 84(3-4), 2000, pp. 257-264
Mustard straw (MS) was soaked for 6 h in the solutions containing 0% (So),
1% (S-1) or 2% (S-2) sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 0% (H-0) or 1.5% (H-1) hyd
rogen peroxide (H2O2) following a 3x2 factorial design. The pH of the untre
ated MS (near neutral) was increased to more than 10 after treatment with N
aOH (S1H0 and S2H0) or alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP; S1H1 and S2H1). The
treatment effect on tenacity was not significant. The NDF and ADF contents
of MS increased significantly (p<0.01) in the treatment S0H1, whereas thes
e decreased significantly (p<0.01) in the treatments S2H0 and S2H1 However,
the change in NDF and ADF was not significant in S0H0, S1H0 and S1H1 treat
ments. The content of both NDF and ADF decreased linearly (p<0.01) with inc
reasing level of NaOH in the soaking medium. The effect of various treatmen
ts on cellulose content was almost similar to that of NDF and ADE The acid
detergent lignin content of MS increased significantly (p<0.01) in case of
S1H0, S0H1 and S1H1 but the differences were not significant among UMS, S0H
0, S2H0 and S2H1. The IVOMD content of untreated MS was 162 g kg(-1) DM and
it increased significantly (p<0.01) when straw was soaked in S1H0, S2H0, S
1H1 and S2H1, whereas it reduced slightly due to either water (S0H0) or H2O
2 (S0H1) treatment. With the increasing level of NaOH, the IVOMD improved s
ignificantly (p<0.01). It is concluded that the cell wall constituents and
IVOMD of MS were modified by NaOH with or without H2O2 in a way that in vit
ro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) of treated MS was 82-112% units hig
her than untreated MS. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.