Physico-chemical properties of neutral detergent fibers from wheat straws

Abstract

The physco-chemical properties of buffering capacity and water-holding capacity were evaluated in the straw’s neutral-detergent fiber from five samples of four wheat varieties. A block randomized design was utilized (laboratory batch as blocks), with six replicates for each material. The buffering capacity, measured by the titrable acidity (mmol HCl/100g fiber dry matter), was higher for BR-23B (61.2), BR-35 (60.2) and CEP-19 (59.3), and smaller for BR-23A (53.4) and CEP-21 (52.2) (P<0.05). The difference among straws was higher in the pH range of 5.4 to 2.7, and the titrable acidity measured in that range was more sensible, detecting the difference between the samples of BR23B and CEP19 (P<0.05). There was no significant difference among straws for the water-holding capacity (average = 5.34 g H2O/g fiber dry matter, P>0.05), however that measure showed positive correlation with the titrable acidity (r = 0.88, P<0.05). The buffering capacity in wheat straw fiber’s seems to be dependent to the variety as well as the source of the sample.