Field Crop 2024, Vol.7, No.2, 116-123 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 121 Table 1 Relative contents of various fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel (Adapted from Hawaz et al., 2023) Element Relative content of fatty methyl esters Sugarcane juice enzymatic hydrolyzate Glucose C15H30O2 0.53 0.18 C17H34O2 8.47 11.34 C18H36O2 0.44 - C19H34O2 13.59 19.48 9-C19H36O2 71.25 53.75 8-C19H36O2 5.14 0.24 C19H36O2 0.3 4.48 C19H36O2 0.27 - 9-C21H40O4 - 0.51 3.2 Sugarcane feed additives As a by-product, molasses is sweet and nutritious, making it an ideal additive in the feed industry. Its ingredients mainly include 44% to 48% sugar, such as glucose and fructose, as well as rich minerals and vitamins. Molasses as a feed additive can improve feed palatability, increase livestock intake, improve animal growth and production performance, and reduce feed waste. As a feed additive, molasses can improve the digestibility of fiber in feed, making the fiber in standard feed easier to digest, which helps animals absorb and utilize nutrients. Due to the sweetness and high energy density of molasses, it can increase animals' feed intake, maintain body condition and appetite, thereby reducing feed waste (Windsor and Hill, 2022). Molasses is rich in fermentable sugars and is a high-energy feed ingredient, especially useful when grain is scarce or expensive. As a substitute for grains, it can effectively increase the energy supply of feed. Feeds added with molasses can improve the growth performance and protein metabolism of animals, helping to increase daily weight gain and feed utilization without affecting animal health. Molasses is rich in key minerals and nutrients such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6 and selenium, making it an ideal feed supplement to help livestock maintain good health. In addition, molasses can reduce the urea content in milk and increase the protein content, especially casein. During the dry period of dairy cows, molasses can increase the intake and digestibility of roughage, reduce the risk of metabolic abnormalities during the lactation period, and help improve production efficiency. For beef and pork producers, molasses as a feed additive not only helps to improve the palatability and nutritional supply of feed, but also effectively reduces feeding costs and achieves sustainable livestock production. 4 Challenges and Future Prospects The main technical challenges facing the value-added utilization of sugarcane bagasse include the optimization of pretreatment technology and processes. Pretreatment processes are crucial for the separation of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, but many traditional methods have low efficiency and high environmental impact. Although new methods such as alkali pretreatment, steam explosion and acid/alkali combined technology have achieved good results in the laboratory, they still face stability and economic challenges on an industrial scale. In addition, the complexity of the pretreatment and hydrolysis processes, as well as the high cost of cellulases, increase the difficulty of the overall process (Khairul et al., 2022). Adding value to sugarcane by-products also faces market and economic challenges. Although market demand for products such as biofuels, paper and chemicals is growing, the gap between production costs and market prices makes it difficult to commercialize many projects. Biofuel production requires massive investment, fierce market competition, and the lack of comprehensive subsidies and incentive policies have hindered industrial development. In addition, unstable product markets and high logistics costs also increase economic risks.
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