Dried rice straw-chicken litter and urea-treated rice straw as main fodder resources for local cattle in the dry season

摘要

nbsp;Fourlocalcattleof100to120kginitialweightwereallocatedtofourtreatments:nbsp;100%ricestraw-chickenlitter(RSCL);70%RSCL+30%urea-treatedricestraw(URS),30%RSCL+70%URSand100%URSaccordingtoaLatinsquaredesignwithfour56-dayperiods.TheRicestrawwaschoppedto5-10cmlengthandusedaslitterfor600chickensraisedfromone-day-olduntil60days.Everytwoweeks,choppeddriedricestrawwasscatteredontopoftheoldlayer.Attheendofthe60days,thechickenbeddingwassun-driedtoreach14-16%moisture.Ureatreatmentwasbyensilinginbigplasticbags(100kgricestraw,5kgureain35litreswater).?Allanimalsreceiveddaily4kgfreshcassavapeel(21%DM)and0.5kgofaconcentratemixture(56%cassavarootmeal,18%groundnutcake,25%ricebranand1%bonemeal).Thestrawcomponentofthedietwasfedadlibitum.nbsp;NitrogenandashcontentswerehigherinRSCL(2.89and20.5%)thaninuntreatedricestraw(0.66and16.9)andURS(1.69and17.2%).NDFandADFwerelowestinRSCL.DMlossesintherumen(48hourincubation)were47.7%foruntreatedstraw,50.8%forRSCLand62.3%forURS.DMintake,liveweightgainandfeedconversionincreasedwithincreaseintheproportionofURSinthediet.Thebestmethodforutilizationofricestrawchickenlitterappearedtobeincombinationwithurea-treatedricestrawinaratioof30:70%.nbsp;