Ruminal Degradation Kinetics of Wheat Straw Irradiated by High Doses of Electron Beam

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of electron beam irradiation at doses of 250 and 500 kGy on the chemical composition and ruminal dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) degradability of wheat straw. Nylon bags of untreated or irradiated wheat straw were suspended in the rumen of three rams for up to 72 h, and resulting data were fitted to non-linear degradation model to calculate the degradation parameters of DM and NDF. Electron beam irradiation had no effect on crude protein, ether extract and ash, but decreased (P < 0.05) contents of NDF and acid detergent fiber. The water soluble and potentially degrad-able fractions, degradation rate and effective degradability of DM and NDF increased linearly (P < 0.001) with increases in irradiation dose. Based upon these results, electron beam irradiation can be used to im-prove DM and NDF degradation kinetics of wheat straw in the rumen.