Acta Agronomica Hungarica, 58(1), pp. 97–101 (2010) DOI: 10.1556/AAgr.58.2010.1.12 0238–0161/$ 20.00©2010 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest Short communication EXAMINATION OF CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND CALORIFIC VALUE OF CEREAL STRAW P. SIPOS 1 , A. NÁBRÁDI 2 and Z. GYŐRI 1 1 INSTITUTE OF FOOD SCIENCE, QUALITY ASSURANCE AND MICROBIOLOGY; 2 DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, CENTRE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN, DEBRECEN, HUNGARY Received: 20 November, 2009; accepted: 26 January, 2010 Representative straw samples from various cereals were analysed to determine their chemical composition and calorific value. It was found that the chemical composition data given in previous feeding tables can be applied to characterise modern varieties, as only the crude fat contents of oats and winter wheat were significantly higher than the available reference data, while the ash contents were lower. The calorific value of cereal straw was equal to or in some cases greater than that of energy grass, so cereal straw could be competitive with energy grass, due to its large cultivation area and the properties and value of its by-products. Key words: cereal straw, chemical composition, calorific value Introduction Straw is a by-product of cereal production and is produced every year in large and relatively predictable amounts (Užik and Žofajová, 2006). Nowadays it is primarily used as animal bedding, but its chemical composition makes it suitable for use in other industries, to increase the fibre content of feed mixes or, due to its high cellulose content, in the manufacture of cellulose or chipboard (Puls, 1993). If hay is scarce it can even be used as forage, and research is increasingly aimed at utilizing the energy stored in chemical bonds in the bio- energy industry (Epstein et al., 1978). The chemical composition of the straw from various cereal species exhibits only slight differences. The average protein content is 3.1–4.1%, the crude fat content 1.6–2.0%, the crude fibre content 43.2–47.2% and the ash content 4.7–6.5%. Schmidt (1993) reported the highest protein content for winter wheat straw, the highest crude fat content for oat straw, the highest crude fibre content for rye straw and the highest ash content for winter barley, and the limit