Short communication: Characterization of molasses chemical composition

Abstract

Beet and cane molasses are produced worldwide as a by-product of sugar extraction and are widely used in animal nutrition. Due to their composition, they are fed to ruminants as an energy source. However, molasses has not been properly characterized in the literature; its description has been limited to the type (sugarcane or beet) or to the amount of dry matter (DM), total or water-soluble sugars, crude protein, and ash. Our objective was to better characterize the composition of cane and beet molasses, examine possible differences, and obtain a proper definition of such feeds. For this purpose, 16 cane and 16 beet molasses samples were sourced worldwide and analyzed for chemical composition. The chemical analysis used in this trial characterized 97.4 and 98.3% of the compounds in the DM of cane and beet molasses, respectively. Cane molasses contained less DM compared with beet molasses (76.8 ± 1.02 vs. 78.3 ± 1.61%) as well as crude protein content (6.7 ± 1.8 vs. 13.5 ± 1.4% of DM), with a minimum value of 2.2% of DM in cane molasses and a maximum of 15.6% of DM in beet molasses. The amount of sucrose differed between beet and cane molasses (60.9 ± 4.4 vs. 48.8 ± 6.4% of DM), but variability was high even within cane molasses (39.2-67.3% of DM) and beet molasses. Glucose and fructose were detected in cane molasses (5.3 ± 2.7 and 8.1 ± 2.8% of DM, respectively), showing high variability. Organic acid composition differed as well. Lactic acid was more concentrated in cane molasses than in beet molasses (6.1 ± 2.8 vs. 4.5 ± 1.8% of DM), varying from 1.6 to 12.8% of DM in cane molasses. Dietary cation-anion difference showed numerical differences among cane and beet molasses (7 ± 53 vs. 66 ± 45 mEq/100 g of DM, on average). It varied from −76 to +155 mEq/100 g of DM in the cane group and from +0 to +162 mEq/100 g of DM in the beet group. Data obtained in this study detailed differences in composition between sources of molasses and suggested that a more complete characterization could improve the use of molasses in ration formulation.

Processes, Challenges and Optimisation of Rum Production from Molasses—A Contemporary Review

“…In molasses intended for fermenting purposes, some of these factors can be controlled by standardization practices, while other factors can be more difficult to regulate. A recent publication has also noted that molasses has yet to be properly characterised, and that its description has mostly been limited to either the type of the origin sugarcane or beet, the amount of dry matter, total or water-soluble sugars, crude protein, and ash [86]. This means that a multivariate pool, including environmental factors affects the chemical composition of molasses.…”

Optimization of Yeast, Sugar and Nutrient Concentrations for High Ethanol Production Rate Using Industrial Sugar Beet Molasses and Response Surface Methodology

“…Sugar beet and cane molasses are abundant liquid by-products from the sugar industry, which are generally found at high amount of total sugars (50.6-71.0% w/w) and traces of micronutrients such as minerals (Ca, Mg, Na and K), phosphate and nitrogen compounds [14]. These sugar-rich solutions does not require any major physical or chemical pretreatment (such as hydrolysis, filtration, sterilization, etc.)…”

In vitro evaluation of sugar digestibility in molasses

“…Chosen cane molasses came from Central America, Asia and Europe, while beet molasses from Europe, North America and Africa. Samples were analysed for their chemical composition as described in a previous paper (Palmonari et al 2020), and the results are reported in Table 1. In particular, DM was determined according to AOAC 934.01 official method.…”

“…Overall, molasses could be added to the diets in substitution of starch sources, due to a different impact on rumen fermentations and pH (Oelker et al 2009;Brito et al 2017;De Ondarza et al 2017), effect related to their sugar fraction composition. Molasses contain mono-di-, and tri-saccharides, composed by hexoses, as well as pentoses in traces (Palmonari et al 2020). Thus, it could be assumed that each one of these compounds would have a different fermentation patter or rate, depending on the complexity of the molecule, and its structure.…”