Document Type : Research Paper
Abstract
The nutritional value of cereal straw can be increased using urea treatments as a source of ammonia. The conventional urea treatment process for cereal straw is a laborious and time-consuming task. It is essential to facilitate or eliminate part of the procedure with the use of machinery. This study examines the mechanical urea treatment of wheat straw and compares chemical components and digestibility of the treated straw with that treated conventionally. For mechanized urea treatment, a rectangular baler fitted with a urea solution sprayer was used to treat the straw. The machine was connected to a tractor and used to prepare mechanized urea treated bales. At the same time, the conventional method was used to treat chopped straw. The samples were then compared with the mechanized treated straw. Results showed that treatment methods had no significant effect on the chemical compositions of DM, ash, ADL, DM, and CP. The effect of treatment method on other chemical compositions (NDF, ADF) and straw digestibility parameters (DMD, OMD and DOMD) was significant (P<0.05). The mean values of DMD, OMD and DOMD for untreated straw were 30.00%, 27.64%, and 25.92%. These values were 44.35%, 44.43%, and 41.46% for the conventional treatment method and 40.35%, 37.87%, and 35.51% for the mechanized method. The effective field capacity and effective material capacity of the mechanical urea treatment were 0.41 ha/h and 2.05 t/h, respectively. Results of this research also showed that mechanical urea treatments can be done under field conditions along with baling operations. This method of urea treatment can also increase the moisture content of the straw to the recommended range for urea treatment of wheat straw.
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Paper 10. Rome.