effects of electron beam, naoh and urea on chemical composition, phenolic compounds, in situ ruminal degradability and in vitro gas production kinetics of pistachio by-products

the current study evaluated the effects of electron beam (eb; 10, 20, 30 and 40 kgy), urea and naoh treatments on chemical composition, phenolic compounds, in vitro gas production and in situ ruminal degradability of pistachio by-product (pb). the eb decreased (p < 0.01) neutral detergent fiber (ndf), acid detergent fiber (adf) and acid detergent lignin (adl) contents of pb. treating pb by naoh and urea increased cell wall constitute of pb (p < 0.01). irradiation at doses of 30 and 40 kgy reduced tannin and increased total phenol content of pb (p < 0.01). naoh and urea treatments decreased tannins, total phenolics and condensed tannins of pb compared to control (p < 0.01). in situ ruminal dry matter (dm) degradation data showed that irradiation increased (p < 0.01) and, urea and naoh decreased (p < 0.01) rapidly fermentable fraction (a) of pb. naoh decreased (p < 0.01) fraction b and total degradable fraction (a + b) of pb. irradiation and polyethylene-glycol increased rate of gas production (k), metabolizable energy (me) and short chain fatty acid concentrations (scfa), while, naoh decreased gas production potential (b), me and scfa (p < 0.01). data showed that although naoh was efficent in detannification of pb, howevr, it reduced gas production and in situ degradation of pb.