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Abstract

Greater demands will be placed on animal production in order to minimise emissions of ammonia and other wastes. Ammonia originates in the nitrogen part of faeces and urine. Thus, a good method to decrease ammonia is to reduce nitrogen residues in manure by appropriate feed rations. This was done in a study concerning the effects of decreased protein supply on ammonia release from dairy cattle manure. Rations with 14 and 19% of protein in the total dry matter ration were compared. Also, two feeding routines were included, separate feeds and a total mixed ration. The ammonia release was estimated on 24-h samples of manure (faeces and urine) from individual cows. At low protein levels, the ammonia emission decreased by 2/3 compared with the high level. No effects on milk production (mean 31 kg) or on milk composition were observed in this short-term experiment. Nitrogen efficiency, i.e. milk nitrogen in percent of consumed nitrogen, was 39% at low protein level compared with 29% at high level. Ration composition will be important in the efforts to reduce negative environmental influences resulting from milk production. The applied measuring technique seems to be a good tool in estimating the influences of diet on gaseous emissions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science BY. All rights reserved.

Keywords

ammonia emission; dairy cattle; feeding; protein level; measuring technique

Published in

Livestock Production Science
2002, volume: 76, number: 1-2, article number: PII S0301-6226(02)00021-0
Publisher: Elsevier

SLU Authors

  • Frank, Birgit

    • Department of Agricultural Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  • Gustafsson, Gösta

    • Department of Agricultural Biosystems and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0301-6226(02)00021-0

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/5583