Livestock

Adding anhydrous ammonia and urea to corn silage

Corn silage is relatively high in energy but low in crude protein compared with alfalfa and many grasses. Adding anhydrous ammonia or urea can increase the crude protein content of corn silage by about 4 percentage units; from around 8 percent to 12 percent. Several products are available, and some of them are listed in Table 1. The general recommendation is to add 5 pounds of actual nitrogen (6-8 lb of NH3) per ton of wet silage (6268 percent moisture) at the time of ensiling. Most of the commercial products are molasses-based and include essential minerals with the nitrogen (ammonia) source. These products are easy to apply and safe to handle. Urea must be mixed into the silage thoroughly, either by metering on at the blower or spreading on top of the silage in the wagon before unloading. Adding urea to silage that will be stored in a bunker or pile is not recommended due to the difficulty of uniformly distributing the urea in the silage mass. If urea is added to corn silage, be sure to check other ration ingredients for urea content, and make sure that the total intake of urea is less than 0.4 lb per cow per day. Store anhydrous ammonia under pressure to maintain its liquid state. Anhydrous ammonia vaporizes very rapidly when released to atmospheric pressure, so it must be stabilized as a liquid during application. When applied through the cold-flow method, it is one of the cheapest sources of supplemental nitrogen. However, this method of application is one of the most difficult to use. Application of anhydrous ammonia via cold-flow requires a condensation chamber, regulator, hoses, and storage tank. Be sure to wear rubber gloves and goggles, and have a large supply of water available for washing if skin contact occurs. If done correctly, recovery of ammonia in the corn silage should be 70 to 90 percent, but silages that are lower in moisture will retain less nitrogen. Anhydrous ammonia can be applied at the field chopper and thus can be used with silages stored in bunkers or piles. However, a Michigan study reported lower recovery rates when the ammonia was applied at the field chopper (48 percent) than when applied at the silo blower (90 percent). The key is to apply the ammonia directly to the forage to reduce loss of ammonia. Research trials generally have shown better performance when animals were fed NH3 than when fed feed-grade urea. The addition of 10 pounds of urea and 6 to 7 pounds NH3 have resulted in comparable increases in the protein level in corn silage. In addition, anhydrous ammonia typically is more available than feed-grade urea. The bunk life of NH3 treated corn silage is longer than for urea-treated corn silage and untreated silage. A disadvantage of NPN-treated silage is its corrosive nature. Equipment will tend to corrode quicker when handling NPN-treated silages.

Table 1. Non-protein nitrogen additives for corn silage.

Additive Ammonia-water mix Anhydrous ammonia Commercial ammoniamolasses-mineral Commercial ureamolasses-mineral Urea Level Form Nitrogen Added % -lb/wet tonliquid gas liquid liquid dry 20-30 81 13.6 17.6 45 25 7 45 38 10 Est. Loss % 10-20 5-20 <5 <5 5-15

Recovery-49 | September 1993

Prepared by Lee Kilmer, ISU Extension Dairy Specialist - Nutrition . . . and justice for all The Iowa Cooperative Extension Services programs and policies are consistent with pertinent federal and state laws and regulations on nondiscrimination regarding race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, and disability. Cooperative Extension Service, Iowa State University of Science and Technology and the United States Department of Agriculture cooperating. Robert M. Anderson, Jr., director, Ames, Iowa. Distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914.