EXERCISE No.

6
AMMONIATION OF WHEAT STRAW
The main component of straw is fibre, including cellulose and hemicellulose that can be
digested by ruminants. Some cellulose and hemicellulose are bound to lignin and resistant to
microbial attack. The role of ammoniation is to destroy this link, so these fractions are available
to the animal. Ammoniation usually increases digestibility by 20 percent and CP content up to 12 times. It can also improve palatability and consumption rate. The total nutritional value can be
doubled, reaching 0.4-0.5 feed units for each kilogram of ammoniated straw. In addition,
ammoniation reduces mould development, destroys weed seeds (e.g. wild oat, false sorghum,
etc.), parasite eggs and bacteria.

Ammonia sources for straw ammoniation

The sources of ammonia to treat straw include anhydrous ammonia, urea, ammonium
bicarbonate and aqueous ammonia

queous ammonia
Aqueous ammonia is a solution of ammonia in water. The concentration is quite variable, but the
usual value is 20 percent. At this concentration, the normal dosage is 12 percent by weight of
straw DM. It is only adapted to areas near to fertilizer factories because its low N content makes
transport expensive.

Other sources
Besides the above sources of ammonia, human and animal urine also can be used to treat
straw. However, collection difficulties limit practical applications.

Methods for ammonia treatment of straw

At present, the methods for popular ammonia treatment of straw in China include stack, silo or
bunker, and oven methods. Each uses a different ammonia source.