Water absorption characteristics of kenaf core to use as animal bedding material

Kenaf is grown these days as a minor fibre crop in some Asian countries, but also in the US and recently in Southern European countries such as Italy. The yield of extracted bast fibres is below 1/3 of that of the kenaf stem weight. In the US and Europe a profitable outlet for the remaining woody core is important for economical production of the crop. The use of kenaf core as animal bedding material is considered here as potential market outlet. An important aspect for this application is the moisture absorption capacity of the material. This paper describes evaluation of the water absorption capacity of different kenaf core fractions in comparison with other commercial animal bedding materials like straw and wood shavings. The water absorption of kenaf core particles is shown to be in the range of the other tested materials and especially the soft pith material showed very high absorbency.