Short communication Composition and digestibility of beet pulp with and without molasses and dried using three methods

This study compared the effects of drying on beet pulp with and without added molasses by measuring the in sacco digestibility and composition including ®ber polysaccharides and minerals. Beet pulp was sampled before and after the addition of molasses from four different sugar processing plants within California. These samples were sub-sampled and then sun-, freeze-, or airdried. The percentage molasses in the beet pulp with added molasses averaged about 27%. After glucose, arabinose was the second most prevalent sugar in the neutral non-starch polysaccharides. Molasses addition did not result in a signi®cant change in the crude protein, ether extract, TDN, ribose, or Mg content. Fiber components, other minerals, and neutral detergent ®ber (NDF) residues were signi®cantly different in beet pulp with versus without molasses. However, the NDF residues remaining at 24 h in sacco fermentation time differed by less than three percentage units. Method of drying affected NDF, acid detergent ®ber (ADF), crude protein in NDF and ADF, ribose, mannose, and pectin content of beet pulp but the differences were small and probably not biologically important. Although the NDF residues remaining in beet pulp were lowest for freeze-dried and highest for sun-dried at all fermentation times, they were only signi®cantly different at 6 h. Sundried beet pulp NDF residues remaining at 6 and 12 h of fermentation were signi®cantly higher than freeze-dried beet pulp. Drying had little affect on other components measured. Results from this experiment suggest the nutritional characteristics of sun-dried beet pulp are generally similar to wet beet pulp. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.