*Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Sirsa Road, Hissar-125001.
Dairy Cattle Nutrition Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-l32001, India
Online published on 21 January, 2012.
The associative influence of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at 0, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12%(w/w) levels with steam pressure treatment (SPT) at 2 kg/cm2 for 1 and 2 h duration of rice straw on compositional changes and digestibility of DM and other structural polysaccharides was studied. Due to synergistic effect of the treatments, there was significant solubilisation of structural polysaccharides like cell wall, ADF, hemicellulose, cellulose and silica which resulted in increased (P<0.01) values of cell contents. The ash and lignin content in treated material also increased (P<0.01). Solubilisation of structural components at the two periods of SPT remained similar. The TVDMD, IVCWD, IVADFD, IVHCD and IVCD were significantly (P<0.01) enhanced both at 1 and 2 h SPT. Treatment interaction data indicated that association of SPT and NaOH treatment exerted significant (P<0.01) influence on the digestibility of DM, cell wall, ADF, and hemicellulose. NaOH treatment alone improved significantly (P<0.01) the digestibility of DM, cell wall, ADF, hemicellulose and cellulose, whereas SPT influenced only hemicellulose digestibility. The coefficients of correlation for cell contents with IVDMD was positive and highly significant (P<0.01) whereas the cell wall constituents like ADF, hemicellulose, cellulose and silica were negatively (P< 0.01) correlated. The findings suggested that NaOH Plus SPT even at lower duration greatly increased the digestibility of fibre components of rice straw.
