Vad orsakar höga ammoniumvärden i ensilage?
High levels of ammonia in grass silage have been up for discussion by Swedish advisers. One
reason is that it is more difficult for the rumen-microbes to utilise high levels of ammonia. A
low level of ammonia is also good because if the cattle can use more of the protein in the
silage, they don?t need so much protein concentrate. That is very good for the economy at the
farm, and it is also good for the environmental problems caused by high levels of ammonia.
In this project, 24 samples of silage have been taken at 20 different farms in the south west of
Sweden. The samples were tested for ammonia at a laboratory, and the same samples were
also tested with the ?black box method?. In the laboratory analyse ammonia was defined as
percent of total nitrogen in the samples. The tested samples had a very high level of ammonia
in percent of the total nitrogen. In this project information has been collected about the ration
of fertiliser and manure and how long the grass was lying in the swath rows at the field.
One of the clearest results from these tests was that low dry matter in the silage gave the
highest level of ammonia, and that concerned both for the ?blackbox-method? and for the
laboratory analyses. In Denmark they have done some tests with broadcasting the grass row,
in purpose to make the grass dry faster. These tests turned out well and gave a low level of
ammonia in the silage.