The effect of urea treated cassava peels as supplement to West African Dwarf (WAD) goats grazing natural pasture

Effect of supplementing or treating <i>Eragrostis curvula</i> hay with urea or nitrate on its digestibility and <i>in vitro</i> fermentation

“…Though total gas production was not significantly affected by the NPN application method, the treated diets resulted in a relatively higher IVOMD than the supplemented diets. The significant increase in digestibility after the urea treatment compared with urea supplementation agrees with previous studies (Uza et al, 2006;Verma et al, 2006). Mgheni et al (1993) compared the effect of urea supplementation versus urea treatment and found a significant increase in in vitro digestibility, DM intake and growth performance of goats fed urea-treated rice straw, compared with urea-supplemented rice straw.…”

Performance of West African Dwarf (WAD) Goats Fed Urea Treated Maize Offal as Supplement to Natural Herbage

“…34, 18.11, 18.68 and 31.95g required by goats on T4, T1, T5 and T2 respectively. Increased microbial degradation could be the reason for increased level of intake and improved weight gain at 4% urea treatment of maize offal than other levels and agrees with the findings of Uza et al ., (2005) that urea treatment beyond 4% does not favour efficient conversion of feed.…”

“…Three levels of urea solution: 4, 6 and 8 percent were prepared by dissolving 40, 60, and 80 grammes of fertilizer grade urea in 200ml of water for every kg of maize offal according to the method of Chesworth (1992) r e p r e s e n t i n g 4 , 6 a n d 8 % u r e a concentration. Fifty kilogrammes each of maize offal was sprayed (garden sprayer) with 10 litres of one of the three urea levels solution, sealed and made air tight with plastic sheeting covered with a layer of earth on impervious floor and left undisturbed for twenty one days to allow the ammonia produce by hydrolysis of urea diffuse through the material (Uza et al, 2005).…”

“…In Nigeria, West African Dwarf (WAD) goats are raised under the traditional system where they graze natural pasture during dry season while during the cropping seasons they are tethered. This system induces feed stress and the herbage they graze has a low protein content of between 2-5 percent (Uza et al, 2005). These goats are kept by small holder framers because they have compact body, short generation interval, are easy to handle and have the ability to convert roughage to edible meat.…”

“…Maize (Zea mays) is grown throughout the world as a staple food crop, maize offal as a waste represents most of the leftover of maize grain processing from both wet and dry milling. Many workers (Chesworth, 1992;McDonald et al, 1995;Uza et al, 2005) have identified urea as the safest and cheapest of the non-protein nitrogen (NPN) compound to release ammonia for rumen microbes to create new proteins. This high caloric maize offal (waste) could be combined with complementary cheap protein source (urea) that can satisfy the maintenance and growth requirements of the ruminant animal like other expensive conventional cereal feeds.…”