Ozonation-pelleting of nitrogen-enriched wheat straw: Towards improved pellet properties, enhanced digestibility, and reduced methane emissions

The livestock industry needs to use crop straws that are highly digestible to improve feed productivity and reduce ruminal methane emissions. Hence, this study aimed to use the ozonation and pelleting processes to enhance the digestibility and reduce the ruminal methane emissions of wheat straw enriched with two nitrogen sources (i.e., urea and heat-processed broiler litter). Various analyses were conducted on the pellets, including digestibility indicators, mechanical properties, surface chemistry functionalization, chemical-spectral-structural features, and energy requirements. For comparison, loose forms of the samples were also analyzed. The nitrogen-enriched ozonated wheat straw pellets had 43.06 % lower lignin, 28.30 % higher gas production for 24 h, 12.28 % higher metabolizable energy, 13.78 % higher in vitro organic matter digestibility for 24 h, and 28.81 % higher short-chain fatty acid content than

Automated summary

This study aimed to enhance the digestibility and reduce the ruminal methane emissions of wheat straw by using the ozonation and pelleting processes. Various analyses were conducted on the pellets, including digestibility indicators, mechanical properties, surface chemistry functionalization, chemical-spectral-structural features, and energy requirements. The nitrogen-enriched ozonated wheat straw pellets showed significant improvements in lignin reduction, gas production, metabolizable energy, in vitro organic matter digestibility, and short-chain fatty acid content.