Evaluation of chemical composition of treated and untreated rice straw using urea

Abstract

The study was carried out at Teaching and Research farm Adamawa State University Mubi, to evaluate the chemical composition of treated and untreated rice straw using urea. Rice straw as a crop residue is widely available in tropical countries and is used in an attempt to meet the energy requirements of growing ruminants. A major limitation to the use of rice straw is their high fiber content, low nitrogen and energy level. Therefore, treatment of rice straw with urea can lead to significant improvement in nutritional quality and greater utilization. The major objectives of the study was to Improve the nutritional value of rice straw using urea, to Evaluate the chemical composition of treated and untreated rice straw using urea. The dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract, Neutral Detergent Fibre (NDF),  Acid Detergent Fibre (ADF), and Ash values are 60.62, 84.01, 12.29,1.07, 62.78, 41.48 and 13.40 for the urea treated rice straw and 75.56, 87.11, 3.22, 0.63, 68.18, 40.70 and 12.34% for the untreated rice straw respectively. The treatment of rice straw with urea has significantly at (P<0.05) reduced its dry matter content by 75.56 to 61.02 % and increased the value of crude protein by 3.22% to 12.29%.It is concluded that urea appears to be as efficient as any other source of ammonia in the treatment of straw. Therefore, the findings of this study will be beneficial to farmers as it will provides improved simple method of formulating local animals’ feeds using simple material like rice straw.