Ar. Moss et al., THE EFFECT OF ALKALI TREATMENT OF CEREAL STRAWS ON DIGESTIBILITY AND METHANE PRODUCTION BY SHEEP, Animal feed science and technology, 49(3-4), 1994, pp. 245-259
The effects of treating cereal straws with NaOH and ammonia on methane
production by sheep are reported. One oat, two wheat and two barley s
traws were either untreated or treated with NaOH (45 kg t-1 dry matter
(DM)) and ammonia (35 kg t-1 DM). The straws were supplemented with u
rea and sodium sulphate as appropriate to provide a dietary N/S ratio
of 14.4:1 and given ad libitum to mature wether sheep. Methane product
ion was measured in open circuit respiration chambers following a 20 d
ay period on each diet. The digestibility of various feed fractions wa
s measured both in vitro and in vivo. Methane production as a proporti
on of gross energy intake (range 0.047-0.067) was not significantly af
fected by treatment, although the volume of methane produced per anima
l was significantly (P < 0.001) increased (Control, 17.8; NH3, 26.2; N
aOH 30.11 per animal per day). However, when methane production was ex
pressed relative to intake of digestible organic matter, treatment sig
nificantly (P < 0.001) reduced production (Control, 55.0; NH3, 43.7; N
aOH, 48.11 kg-1 organic matter apparently digested). The significance
of these findings in relation to reducing methane emissions to the atm
osphere is discussed.