R. C. Jakhmola

Effect of sodium hydroxide and alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment on physical and chemical characteristics and IVOMD of mustard straw

Abstract Mustard straw (MS) was soaked for 6xa0h in the solutions containing 0% (S 0 ), 1% (S 1 ) or 2% (S 2 ) sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and 0% (H 0 ) or 1.5% (H 1 ) hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) following a 3×2 factorial design. The pH of the untreated MS (near neutral) was increased to more than 10 after treatment with NaOH (S 1 H 0 and S 2 H 0 ) or alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP; S 1 H 1 and S 2 H 1 ). The treatment effect on tenacity was not significant. The NDF and ADF contents of MS increased significantly ( p 0 H 1 , whereas these decreased significantly ( p 2 H 0 and S 2 H 1 . However, the change in NDF and ADF was not significant in S 0 H 0 , S 1 H 0 and S 1 H 1 treatments. The content of both NDF and ADF decreased linearly ( p p 1 H 0 , S 0 H 1 and S 1 H 1 but the differences were not significant among UMS, S 0 H 0 , S 2 H 0 and S 2 H 1 . The IVOMD content of untreated MS was 162xa0gxa0kg −1 DM and it increased significantly ( p 1 H 0 , S 2 H 0 , S 1 H 1 and S 2 H 1 , whereas it reduced slightly due to either water (S 0 H 0 ) or H 2 O 2 (S 0 H 1 ) treatment. With the increasing level of NaOH, the IVOMD improved significantly ( p 2 O 2 in a way that in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) of treated MS was 82–112% units higher than untreated MS.