The key to maximising the nutritional value of lignocellulosic materials is in disrupting the plant cell walls as to allow complete access to nutrients and not creating extra anti-nutritional factors. The disruption conditions of choice will always be a compromise between severe processes that achieve high levels of access, but simultaneously form antinutritional factors, and milder but less disruptive. Sugarcane pith is highly lignified by products of the sugar and paper industries. For treatments by steam and pressure alone, harsh conditions are needed (t>180°C). Under these conditions acetyl groups are released from the hemicellulose matrix and suitable levels of cell wall disruption are achieved, also result in formation of furfural by secondary dehydration reactions of hemicellulosic pentoses and soluble phenolic compounds. Both of them inhibit the activity of rumen microbes and cell-free enzymes. Using lower temperatures with an acid can achieve comparable cell wall disruption to steam treatment at high temperatures (Grohmann et al., 1985), and results lower amounts of toxic compounds. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of low temperature steam treatments with sulphuric acid (H2S04) concentrations and reaction times on utilisation of sugarcane pith by rumen microbes

Keywords