Growth performance of crossbred weanling calves fed rice straw sprayed with urea-molasses

Nine crossbred (Brahman and Indu-Brazil) weanling calves were used to determine their performance using three dietary treatments. The weanling calves were grouped into three treatments. Each group was subjected to three dietary treatments as follows: Napier soilage (T1), urea - molasses sprayed rice straw (10 percent urea + 90 percent molasses) (T2); urea-molasses sprayed rice straw (10 percent urea + 85 percent molasses) (T3). All treatment groups were provided with supplementary concentrate. Laboratory analysis showed that urea-molasses sprayed rice straw (T3) had the highest dry matter crude protein, ether extract, NDF [ ] and ADF [ ] contents. In contrast, napier soilage showed the lowest value in all parameters measured. The increase in protein content of the sprayed rice straw apparently was attributed to the inclusion of urea-molasses in the diet. The animals in T1, which were fed with Napier soilage plus concentrate gave a total gain in weight of 49.67 kg; however, results were comparable with that of T2 and T3. Although T1 gave the highest ADG [average daily gain], the result showed no significant difference compared to either T2 and T3. As for the average voluntary dry matter intake, T1 and T3 were not significantly different from each other in terms of daily dry matter, voluntary daily dry matter intake based on metabolic body weight and FCR [feed conversion ratio]. Treatment 1 had the lowest values in all parameters and showed inferiority compared to either T2 and T3. Apparent digestibility of crude protein was found high in T3 with 23.65 percent followed by T2 and T1 with 21.50 percent and 2.72 percent, respectively. As to blood nitrogen level, all treatments did not vary significantly from each other. The analysis on cost of feed per kilogram gain in weight showed T3 with the lowest value although no significant result was noted in the two treatments. These results indicate that large ruminant animals specially beef cattle can feed economically with urea-molasses sprayed rice straw