Effect of urea-treated rice straw, mixed with faba bean straw, on nutrient digestibility, blood metabolites and performance of growing lambs

AbstractThe present study aimed to use poor quality roughages,  such as rice and faba bean straw, treated with or without urea, and their impacts on digestibility, rumen fermentation, some blood parameters, and growth performance of lambs. Twenty crossbred male lambs (1/4 Finland ×¾ Ossimi, 25±1.13kg live body weight) were chosen and divided into four groups. All lambs were fed rations of concentrated feed mixture at 2% of live weight with the following roughagesad libitum: URS (control group, untreated rice straw), TRS (urea-treated rice straw), FBS (faba bean straw), and TRS+FBS (mixture of TRS and FBS,  1:1). Nutrient digestibility and feeding values improved (P<0.05) with TRS+FBS lambsversus FBS, TRS and URS lambs. The highest numerical values of ruminal total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration in TRS lambs were recorded 23.9  ml.eq/dl followed by TRS+FBS, URS and FBS. Regarding to the ruminal parameters, there were no differences (P>0.05) among evaluated groups except for NH3-N, the highest concentration (P<0.05) was recorded in TRS lambs at 3  h post-feeding. Lambs of TRS, FBS and TRS+FBS showed faster growth (P<0.05) than those of the control (i.e., URS). Intakes of dry matter, total digestible nutrients, and digestible crude protein were numerically increased for TRS, FBS, and TRS+FBS. Feed conversion, as kg dry matter/kg gain, was improved for TRS, FBS, and TRS+FBS lambsversus URS. Daily gain of lambs increased (P<0.05) with lambs of TRS, ...
Source: Tropical Animal Health and Production - Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research