Climate Change Mitigation - Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security - page 317

lactobacillus). When the lactic acid in the silage
material reaches a certain concentration (pH
lower than 4.2), the activities of other microor-
ganisms are inhibited, and the nutrients in the
materials are prevented from being broken down
or destroyed by microorganisms. For this reason
the nutrients in the forage can be retained. A
great deal of heat is produced during the process
of lactic fermentation. When the temperature of
silage material rises to 50 °C, the activities of
lactobacillus stop, and the fermentation is over.
As the forage for silage is stored under airtight
conditions with no microbial activities, it can
remain unchanged for a long time.
(i) Advantages
• Minimal loss of nutrients (generally by
less than 10 %) and effectively maintains
the freshness of green feed.
• Fragrant, soft, and juicy and, therefore,
highly palatable to livestock.
• Expands the application scope of feed
sources.
• Easy to store in large quantities for a long
time, as an economical and safe approach
for silage.
• Less restricted by climate and season dur-
ing storage.
• The preparation process of silage can kill
pathogenic insects, weed seeds, etc.
• Improved feed digestibility and reduced
methane emissions.
(ii) Disadvantages
• The straw silage production process needs
to be done quickly.
• The high degree of mechanization
requires a high investment cost.
Straw ammonization and silage can signifi -
cantly improve the digestibility of forage. One
experiment indicated that the feed intake was
increased by 53 and 32.8 %. In addition, the aver-
age daily weight gain was increased by 126 and
97.4 % by feeding the beef cattle with ammoni-
ated straw and silage, respectively, than those by
feeding dry cornstalks (Wang Jinli et al. 2008 ).
The investment in straw ammonization and
silage technology is concentrated on expenses in
construction of storage facilities, machinery, and
covers. More economic benefi ts are reaped

mainly by increasing daily weight gain and milk
yield of animals fed with treated forage. Wang
Jinli et al. ( 2008 ) showed through the experiment
of beef cattle with cornstalks conducted with dif-
ferent treatment methods that the cost of coarse
feed per head of cow increased by 45.5 % and
51.6 % with the use of ammoniated straw and
silage, respectively. However, the corresponding
revenues increased by 153 and 68.8 %. The
research result by Li Wen-bin et al. ( 2010 )
showed that the profi t of breeding beef cattle with
silage increased by 51.5 % more than that with
dry cornstalks. It can be concluded that consider-
able economic benefi ts are achieved by feeding
animals with ammoniated straw and straw silage.
CH 4 emissions of ruminant animals are pro-
duced through the normal fermentation of the
feed taken by animals in the digestive tract. The
energy loss in the form of CH 4 by ruminant ani-
mals accounts for about 2-15 % of the total
energy intake (IPCC 2000 ). Generally, the
amount of CH 4 emissions by a single animal
increases with the weight of the animal. Higher
level of CH 4 emission are observed under the
greater feed intake and with lower feed digest-
ibility. Therefore, the improvement of feed qual-
ity and animal productivity is an effective
approach to reduce CH 4 emissions of ruminant
animals (Dong et al. 2008 ).
Dong et al. ( 2008 ) calculated and compared
CH 4 emissions of ruminant animals after the
straw was treated with ammonization and silage
technology using the IPCC method. The results
showed that the CH 4 emissions were reduced by
16-30 % by feeding treated straw than by feeding
dry straw. CH 4 emissions of beef cattle that were
fed dry cornstalks and cornstalk silage were
229 L/d and 196 L/d, respectively, under the con-
ditions of identical energy intake level and the
same ratio of fi ne feed to coarse feed; the CH 4
emissions of the silage were reduced by 14.4 %
compared to the dry stalk (Fan et al. 2006 ).
Na Renhua et al. ( 2010 ) showed that corn
straw after treatment of silage technology can
help improve feed digestibility and reduce CH 4
production through in vitro digestion test; with
identical ratio of fi ne feed to coarse feed, the CH 4
emission was decreased by 30 % by feeding