problem in inserting the record into crm using xml and curl

problem in inserting the record into crm using xml and curl

 "xmlData" parameter value contains ampersand(&) in the value. then the record is not inserting into zoho it gives
the following error
'<response><error><code>4600</code><message>Unable to process your request. Please verify if the name and value is appropriate for the "xmlData" parameter.</message></error></response>
 
please help me in this case.