Effect of degradation on the porosity and surface area of forage cell walls of differing lignin content

Cell walls, prepared from the stems of wheat, maize, lucerne and rape and from timothy grass, were degraded using a commercial cellulase enzyme preparation. Timothy and lucerne were extensively degraded (60–70% loss of dry matter) while dry matter losses from the more lignified maize, rape and wheat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the science of food and agriculture 1999-01, Vol.79 (1), p.11-18
Main Authors: Gardner, Peter T, Wood, Timothy J, Chesson, Andrew, Stuchbury, Trevor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
cell wall
digestibility
enzymatic degradation
Feed and pet food industries
Food industries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
gas adsorption
lucerne stem
maize internode
porosity
rape stem
surface area
timothy grass
wheat straw
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Summary:Cell walls, prepared from the stems of wheat, maize, lucerne and rape and from timothy grass, were degraded using a commercial cellulase enzyme preparation. Timothy and lucerne were extensively degraded (60–70% loss of dry matter) while dry matter losses from the more lignified maize, rape and wheat samples were substantially less (30–40%). Residues obtained after 6 and 72 h degradation and original preparations were examined for pore structure and surface area by nitrogen adsorption. The pore regime of all of the samples fell within the range 0.5–5 nm radius with pores of 1–2 nm radius predominating. Degradation had little impact on pore regimes or mean pore radius which were essentially the same as the starting material. The exception was timothy where the mean pore radius fell from 2.80 to 2.36 nm (P
ISSN:0022-5142
1097-0010
DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0010(199901)79:1<11::AID-JSFA159>3.0.CO;2-6