Adhesion of the cellulolytic ruminal bacteria Ruminococcus flavefaciens and Fibrobacter succinogenes to barley straw was measured by incubating bacterial suspensions with hammer-milled straw for 30 min, filtering the mixtures through sintered glass filters, and measuring the optical densities of the filtrates. Maximum adhesion of both species occurred at pH 6.0 and during mid- to late-exponenti...

Different furrow openers are required to be evaluated for their suitability to manage rice straw for direct planting of wheat in paddy fields. This study was carried out to assess the straw-cutting ability and draft requirements of four different disc-type furrow openers (notched, toothed, smooth-edge single disc, and double disc) in no-till paddy fields. The openers were attached to an in-fiel...

The potential of two alkali-tolerant, lignocellulolytic environmental enrichment cultures to improve the anaerobic fermentation of Ca(OH)₂-pre-treated wheat straw was studied. The biomethane potential of pre-treated straw was 36% higher than that of untreated straw. The bioaugmentation of pre-treated straw with the enrichment cultures did not enhance the methane yield, but accelerated the metha...

In this study wheat straw was taken from Ankara province. In order to produce dry process MDF, urea formaldehyde resin was used at the ratio of 8 %, 10 % and 12 %, 1 % ammonium chloride was used as hardening agent on the basis of dry fiber weight. On the other hand, 5, 6 and 7 min. pressing times were applied. Alcohol benzene, cold water, hot water and 1 % NaOH solubility of wheat straw were 5....

Non-target effects of two varieties of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-maize straw (5422Bt1 [event Bt11] and 5422CBCL [MON810]) return on the Eisenia fetida were investigated by using multilevel assessments, compared to near-isogenic non-Bt-maize (5422). 5422Bt1 straw return had no deleterious effects on adult earthworms and had significantly positive effects on juveniles over three generations. Ne...

Granite fines, sand, rice hulls, long wheat straw, and wood shavings were compared as bedding for 60 female dairy calves. Growth, health, stress indices, and behavior of newly born calves, along with physical characteristics and bacterial counts of bedding, were evaluated for 42 d during August to October, 2002. Overall average daily gain and dry matter intake of calves did not differ due to be...

EC directive 2001/93/EC states that pigs must have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities. This directive requires further interpretation. In order to facilitate the further implementation of the directive into national, Dutch legislation a preliminary model was constructed to assess the value of different enrichment mate...

Integrating of lignocellulose-based and starch-rich biomass-based hydrogen production was investigated by mixing wheat straw hydrolysate with a wheat grain hydrolysate for improved fermentation. Enzymatic pretreatment and hydrolysis of wheat grains led to a hydrolysate with a sugar concentration of 93.4 g/L, while dilute-acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat straw led to a hydroly...

The thermal conversion of rice straw is an attractive option for recovering its energy, but the process requires exhaustive control because of ashrelated problems. Straw washing is one method of reducing ash-related problems and improving combustion behaviour. In this study, the ash of washed and unwashed rice straw samples was chemically characterized, tested using thermogravimetric analysis a...

Fructification and yield of the edible mushrooms Pleurotus pulmonarius and Stropharia rugosoannulata are clearly enhanced when wheat straw is supplemented with 30% Lolium perenne grass chaff. The bioactive compound in the methanol extract of grass chaff was identified as beta-adenosine. In vitro biological activity tests showed that 0.012 mg of beta-adenosine per ml of medium stimulated earlier...