Corn straw (Zea mays commercial cultivar Pioneer
P7532), including stems, leaves, and cob residues of corn
plants after commercial combine harvest of the grains,
was wilted in the field for a week, packed into 400-kg
condensed bales and delivered to Beer-Tuvia Feeding
Center (Be’er Tuvia, Israel). The bales were opened and
the corn straw was chopped into 3- to 10-cm particles
designated as untreated corn straw (U-CS). The U-CS
(680 kg) was mixed for 15 min in a mixing wagon with
60 kg of concentrated NaOH solution (48% wt/wt) and
260 kg of water to create 1 t of 5% NaOH T-CS.