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Chemical Treatment of Ryegrass Straw: In vitro Dry Matter Digestibility and Compositional Changes¹

Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331

Abstract

SAMPLES of ryegrass straw were sprayed or soaked in sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and soaked in potassium hydroxide (KOH), ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH) and sodium formate (NaCHO₂) solutions of varying concentrations. The average in vitro dry matter digestibility (DDM) for untreated straw was 33.3%. Spraying a 2% NaOH (15 ml per g straw) solution on straw did not significantly improve DDM, while soaking at the same level produced a significant (P<.01) increase. There were no significant differences among particle sizes or treatment times. Two, four, six or eight percent levels of either NaOH or KOH solutions significantly (P<.01) enhanced DDM. However, there was no difference between NaOH and KOH. No significant improvement was rioted above the eight percent level.

NaCHO₂ significantly (P<.01) increased DDM above native straw, but higher treatment levels were necessary to achieve equal benefit to NaOH. NH₄OH treatment produced variable results on DDM but the crude protein (CP) content of treated straw was consistently increased. This was in contrast to NaOH soaking, which significantly (P<.01) lowered CP, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) with each added level of NaOH. Cell wall constituents (CWC) was also significantly (P<.01) lower for treated straw than for native straw.

¹ Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Paper No. 3389.

² Data in this paper are from a thesis submitted by the senior author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

³ Department of Animal Science.

⁴ Present address: Department of Animal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman 99163.