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Rates of degradation of plant cell walls measured with a commercial cellulase preparation
Author(s) -
Hartley Roy D.,
Dhanoa Mewa S.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.2740320902
Subject(s) - cellulase , sodium hydroxide , ferulic acid , chemistry , cell wall , degradation (telecommunications) , alkali metal , straw , lignin , absorbance , nuclear chemistry , sodium , food science , chromatography , hydrolysis , biochemistry , organic chemistry , inorganic chemistry , telecommunications , computer science
The relationship between the degradability, determined with a commercial cellulase preparation, of the cell walls of various plant parts of Italian ryegrass, maize and red clover can be expressed as Y = A ‐ Be −k 1 t‐ Ce k 2 t , where Y = percentage of cell walls degraded, t = reaction time, k 1 and k 2 are rates of degradation, and A, B , and C are constants where A = B + C . Degradability of the cell walls of Italian ryegrass or maize could be predicted accurately from the absorbance of the filtrate at λ max 282‐288 or 310‐324 nm. Treatment of cell walls of barley straw with 0.1 or 1M sodium hydroxide for 7 or 20 h degraded between 12 and 41% of the walls and led to the release of p ‐coumaric and ferulic acids, the amount increasing with concentration of alkali and treatment time; the less concentrated alkali released more ferulic than p ‐coumaric acid. Treatment with the cellulase preparation of the residues from alkali treatment showed that they were almost twice as degradable as the untreated walls.