The mineral contents of WAE and rice straw before and after soaking are given in Table 1.
The WAE treatment increased Na and K levels in the straw by 160 and 130%, respectively,
and the minerals decrease in theWAE after straw soaking by 54.6 and 38.5%, respectively.
Although the concentrations of Ca and Mg in the ash extract after straw soaking decreased
by 61 and 94%, respectively, there was no concomitant increase in the minerals in the treated
straw. These trends of mineral depletion in the solution resulted into a decrease in the pH of
the ash extract from 13.40 to 12.25.The chemical composition of the feeds used in the study
is given in Table 2. Treatment of rice straw with WAE lowered the proportion of organic
matter content by 7.5% and NDF by 8.2%.