Improving Digestibility of Straws for Ruminant Feed by Aqueous Ammonia

Abstract

Digestibility and nutritive value of straws can be improved by treatment with aqueous ammonia at ordinary room temperature in a confined system. Experiments indicate that optimal process conditions are to treat rice straw with 5% of added ammonia (by wt) and 30% of added water (by wt) for about 30 days at ambient temperatures. Under these conditions, enzymatic digestibility is increased 10% and nitrogen content is increased 133%. In vivo digestibility trials also show enhanced digestibility of treated rice straw. Other cellulosic wastes respond to ammonia treatment in a similar manner.