In vitro Ruminal Fermentation of Diets Containing Sugarcane Bagasse Treated with Ammonia and Sodium Hydroxide at Different Times

Document Type : Research Articles

Authors

• Ehsan Rashnoo ¹
• farshid fatahnia ¹
• sayedreza mousavi ²
• Yahya Mohammadi ¹
• mohammad shamsollahi ³
• parisa darat ¹

¹ Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran.

² [e-mail]

³ Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran

10.22067/ijasr.2025.91986.1236

Abstract

Introduction: Due to reduced rainfall and degradation of rangelands, some portion of ruminant feed is provided by agricultural by-products such as cereal straws and sugarcane bagasse (SB). A key strategy for achieving environmentally sustainable added value and providing animal feed is to convert agricultural by-products into animal feed. Sugarcane is one of the most important economic crops worldwide and is mostly used as a raw material in the sugar industry and it is produced in more than 100 countries around the world. Its biomass can be used as animal feed in many countries more than any other forage. The SB is one of the fiberous residues that remain after water extraction from the sugarcane stalk and can be used as a source of fodder for ruminants. However, it has been reported that these by-products have low protein (less than 3% on DM basis), high cellulose (more than 40% on DM basis), high hemicellulose (more than 35% on DM basis), high lignin (15% on DM basis), and low DM digestibility (20-30%). Some livestock producers use unprocessed SB in ruminant nutrition, which is not accompanied by desirable results on animal performance. Various methods including physical, chemical, and biological processing are used to change the physical and chemical nature of SB to improve its digestibility and nutritive value. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of diets containing sugarcane bagasse (SB) treated with ammonia (NH₃) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) for different times on chemical composition, ruminal fermentation parameters and dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) digestibility by gas production method.
 
Materials and Methods: The SB samples were obtained from a sugarcane factory located in Khuzestan province and treated with NH₃ and NaOH for 30 or 45 days under anaerobic condition. Experimental diets were 1- diet containing untreated SB stored for 30 days (Control-30), 2- diet containing treated SB with 5% NH₃ and stored for 30 days (NH₃ 5%-30), 3- diet containing treated SB with 4% NH₃ and 1% NaOH and stored for 30 days (NH₃ 4% + NaOH 1%-30), 4- diet containing treated SB with 3% NH₃ and 2% NaOH and stored for 30 days (NH₃ 3% + NaOH 2%-30), 5- diet containing untreated SB stored for 45 days (Control-45), 6- diet containing treated SB with 5% NH₃ and stored for 45 days (NH₃ 5%-45), 7- diet containing treated SB with 4% NH₃ and 1% NaOH solution stored for 45 days (NH₃ 4% + NaOH 1%-45) and 8- diet containing treated SB with 3% NH₃ and 2% NaOH solution stored for 45 days (NH₃ 3% + NaOH 2%-45). Experiment conducted by gas production (GP) technique based on completely randomized design based on 2×4 factorial. The chemical composition of soybean (DM, OM, crude protein [CP], and neutral detergent fiber) treated with different methods was analyzed after processing. Subsequently, in vitro ruminal fermentation parameters—including 24- and 96-hour gas production (GP), partitioning factor, efficiency of microbial mass production, methane production, and DM and OM digestibility were evaluated.
 
Results and Discussion: The results showed that treatment of SB with 5% NH₃ or 4% NH₃ and 1% NaOH and stored for 45 days had higher OM content than others (P<0.05). The greatest crude protein (CP) content was observed in SB treated with 5% NH₃ and stored for 30 or 45 days (P<0.05). The lowest neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content was observed in SB treated with 4% NH₃ and 1% NaOH or 3% NH₃ and 2% NaOH for 30 days (P<0.05). The lowest 24 h gas production (GP) was observed for Control-30 and Control-45 (P<0.05). The 24 h GP production of diets was increased with increasing NaOH for treating SB (P<0.05). Methane production, partitioning factor and efficiency of microbial mass production did not influence by processing method, storage time and their interaction (P>0.05). The greatest OM digestibility was observed for NH₃ 3%+ NaOH 2%-30 diet (P<0.05). The greatest GP potential was observed for NH₃ 3% + NaOH 2%-30 and NH₃ 3% + NaOH 2%-45 diets (P<0.05). The lowest lag time was observed for NH₃ 3% + NaOH 2%-30and NH₃ 3% + NaOH 2%-45 diets (P<0.05).
 
Conclusion: In general, according to these results, it seems that processing of SB with 3% NH₃ and 2% NaOH solution and storage for 30 days had better effect on its nutritive value.
 

Keywords

• Ammonia
• Sugarcan bagasse
• Ruminal fermentation parameters
• Sodium hydroxide

Main Subjects

• Animal Nutrition

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©2025 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source.

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