The effect of molasses Urea block and concentrate supplementation on growth rate of Arsi bulls
1998
Amsalu Sisay | Tesfaye Alemu Aredo (Adami Tulu Research Center, Ziway (Ethiopia))
A 120 days feeding trial was conducted to study the supplementary value of Urea Molasses Block (UMB) and different levels of concentrate on growth performance of Arsi bulls. A total of thirty Arsi growing bulls with initial body weight of 129 kg were used to test five treatments: grazing (G), G + urea molasses block (UMB) adlibitum, G + UMB + 0.5Kg concentrate/h/d, G + UMB+1Kg concentrate /h/d, supplement intake increased as the level of concentrate increased. Supplementing grazing animals with UMB improved their growth rate (p less than 0.05). Supplementing UMB with concentrate reduced the UMB intake. Adding more concentrate reduced (p less than 0.05) UMB intake and it increased (p less than 0.05) the growth rate. Gain per DMI was highest (p less than 0.05) in treatment 2 (animals supplemented with UMB only). Cost of supplement per unit of gain was lower (p less than 0.05) in treatment 2 than other groups and supplementing UMB with concentrate is not economical. Future strategies to support better growth performance of Arsi bulls should focus on mechanisms to improve intake of molasses urea block.
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