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Effect of pH and added ammonium hydroxide on in vitro digestibility of roughages of different origin treated with sodium hydroxide and ammonia *
Author(s) -
LESHEM Y.,
GOLDMAN A.,
YULZARI A.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
grass and forage science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1365-2494
pISSN - 0142-5242
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2494.1984.tb01659.x
Subject(s) - dry matter , ammonium hydroxide , sodium hydroxide , chemistry , zoology , ammonia , ammonium , nitrogen , sodium , agronomy , inorganic chemistry , biochemistry , biology , organic chemistry
Ammonia and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) have been used to improve the dry matter (DM) digestibility of roughages or to conserve them. These treatments have had incidental effects on pH alone or both the pH and nitrogen contents of the roughages. in the present study, the effects of pH and NH 4 OH on the in vitro dry‐matter digestibility (IVDMD) of eight roughages—four legumes and four grasses—were investigated. The pH levels of approximately 5, 7, 9 and 12 were achieved by adding appropriate amounts of NH 4 OH or NaOH and H 2 SO 4 . Nitrogen levels of approximately 20, 30, 40 and 50 g kg −1 on a DM basis were obtained by adding NH 4 OH. Results of a multiple regression showed that increasing the pH caused a linear increment in IVDMD and that the added NH 4 OH reduced the increment of IVDMD. The effects of both pH and N on IVDMD were found to be specific to the individual roughage; the response of grasses to both pH and NH 3 was greater than that of legumes