An integrated pretreatment strategy consisting of a room temperature alkaline oxidation step coupled with ionic liquid (IL) incubation enables effective lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment at low temperatures (50 degrees C). The IL, 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium acetate (EMIM-Ac), was used in pretreatment of a lignocellulosic hardwood feedstock, poplar. Glucose and xylose yields for 24 h enzyme hydrolysis of pre-treated poplar were measured to assess the efficacy of this pretreatment strategy. The proposed strategy resulted in high hydrolysis yields at a low enzyme loading of 9.5 filter paper units per gram of glucan. The low IL incubation temperatures were found to reduce undesired cellulose acetylation reactions. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.