Abstract 266

Shah,-FH; Rehman,-ZU

Food Technology and Fermentation Division, PCSIR Laboratories, Lahore-16, Pakistan.

Biological-Wastes. 1987, 19: 1, 63-67; 17 ref.

Cottonseed hulls and maize cobs containing 20% moisture were separately treated with different concentrations of alkalis and autoclaved at 121øC for different periods after keeping at room temperature for 24 h. Digestibility of the dried material was tested in vivo using rumen nylon bags. The digestibility of DM was 22.2% for cottonseed hulls autoclaved for 30 min without alkali treatment. With 4% NaOH and autoclaving the peak DM digestibility increased to 46.7%. Maize cobs treated with 4% NaOH and autoclaved had DM digestibility of 69.2% compared with 29.6% without NaOH. Similar increases in DM digestibility were obtained with KOH and Ca(OH)2.