Improving the quality of rice straw by urea and calcium hydroxide on rumen ecology, microbial protein synthesis in beef cattle

Abstract

Four rumen-fistulated beef cattle were randomly assigned to four treatments according to a 4 × 4 Latin square design to study the influence of urea and calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2 ] treatment of rice straw to improve the nutritive value of rice straw. Four dietary treatments were as follows: untreated rice straw, 50 g/kg urea-treated rice straw, 20 g/kg urea + 20 g/kg calcium hydroxide-treated rice straw and 30 g/kg urea + 20 g/kg calcium hydroxide-treated rice straw. All animals were kept in individual pens and fed with concentrate at 0.5 g/kg of BW (DM), rice straw was fed ad libitum. The experiment was conducted for four periods, and each period lasted for 21 days. During the first 14 days, DM feed intake measurements were made while during the last 7 days, all cattle were moved to metabolism crates for total faeces and urine collections. The results revealed that 20 g/kg urea + 20 g/kg calcium hydroxide-treated rice straw improved the nutritive value of rice straw, in terms of dry matter intake, digestibility, ruminal volatile fatty acids, population of bacteria and fungi, nitrogen retention and microbial protein synthesis. Based on this study, it could be concluded that using urea plus calcium hydroxide was one alternative method to improve the nutritive value of rice straw, rumen ecology and fermentation and thus a reduction of treatment cost.

Effect of treating sugarcane bagasse with urea and calcium hydroxide on feed intake, digestibility, and rumen fermentation in beef cattle

“…These results were in agreement with Hameed et al (2012) who reported that CP content of SB increased with the increasing levels of urea treatment at 2, 4, or 6 % for 2, 4, or 6 weeks treating. In addition, Polyorach and Wanapat (2015) also reported that fiber content of feed was reduced when urea and Ca(OH) 2 were used in treatment as it could reduce strong odor of free ammonium or ammonium carbonate (Recktenwald and Van Ambrugh 2006). The alkali in the lignocellulosic material induces the swelling of the material, increasing the internal surface, and reducing the polymerization degree and crystallinity, which results in the rupture of the lignin (Castañón-Rodríguez et al 2015).…”

“…According to Vinh et al (2011), the lower number of protozoa count was found as buffaloes fed with urea-limetreated rice straw. Polyorach and Wanapat (2015) also reported that addition of alkali to rice straw significantly decreased protozoal population in beef cattle. However, reported that there was no effect of alkali on protozoa which was in consistency to the recent result which found that feeding urea or/and Ca(OH) 2 -treated SB failed to reduce protozoal population in beef cattle.…”

Complementary transcriptomic and proteomic analyses reveal regulatory mechanisms of milk protein production in dairy cows consuming different forages

“…Rice straw is one of the main roughages produced for ruminants in southern China, but its application is rather limited because this feed is poorly digested and low in protein content4. In a study by Wang et al 6,.…”

Potensi jerami sebagai pakan ternak ruminansia

“…Hasil penelitian Sudana (1984) menunjukkan bahwa jerami padi yang diberi perlakuan urea 4% dan disimpan selama 4 minggu terjadi peningkatan daya cerna dari 35% menjadi 43,6% dan kandungan nitrogen total dari 0,48% menjadi 1,55%. Hasil penelitian perlakuan kimiawi yang lain menunjukkan bahwa pemberian 20 g / kg urea + 20 g / kg kalsium hidroksida dalam jerami padi mampu meningkatkan nilai gizi jerami padi seperti peningkatan asupan bahan kering, daya cerna, asam lemak volatil rumen, populasi bakteri dan jamur, retensi nitrogen dan sintesis protein mikroba (Polyorach and Wanapat, 2015). Perlakuan biologis dengan menggunakan bakteri, jamur atau enzim ditujukan untuk menghidrolisis bahanbahan berselulosa agar nilai nutrisinya meningkat dan bisa digunakan untuk pakan atau menghasilkan bahan yang bisa dipakai untuk fermentasi selulosa menjadi protein (Soenarjo et al, 1991).…”