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Cellulose-rich biomasses can be used as an alternative to starch-rich corn grain as a source of sugars for ethanol (EtOH) production. However, converting cellulosic biomass to ethanol produces large quantities of co-products which need to be disposed of, preferably in a value-added process, possibly as animal feed. In order to estimate the feeding value of these co-products for ruminants, the chemical composition and ruminal in sacco disappearance of five mature forages (i.e., reed canary grass hay, timothy hay, alfalfa hay, corn stover, barley straw) were determined following no treatment (control), or treatment with ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX) or AFEX plus enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose (AFEX + ENZ). AFEX treatment alone doubled the N content of forages compared with controls. AFEX + ENZ-treated forages contained a similar level of N as the AFEX-treated forages. Acid-detergent insoluble N (ADIN) was twice as high in AFEX + ENZ-treated as in the AFEX-treated forages. The AFEX + ENZ-treated forages had 32% less neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 18% less ADF than the controls. Effective ruminal disappearance of dry matter (DM), NDF, and N were higher (P |
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