| Dissertation note |
There has been a gradual decline in the per capita availability of proteinous food particularly of animals origin for human consumption in our country. The feasible solution of the problem of meat shortage is to increase the production of meat by fattening the male buffalo calves. These calves could be fattened by using the cheaper sources of agriculture by-products available in our country. Wheat straw is being fed to ruminants with supplemental green fodder. It is also fed as a sole roughage during the lean periodof the year. It is however deficient in fermentable nitrogen and has poor digestibility due to more lignification. Urea impregnation of straws has been shown to improve the intake as well as digestibility. It has been concluded that urea treatment with 4% urea solution at 40 to 50 percent moisture level could be advantageous to improve crude protein content of straw and its digestibility. Molasses, a by-product of sugar industry, is an excellent and a cheap source of digestible energy as compared to all other similar energy feeds. Urea provides nitrogen needed for adequate development of animal flora and thus enhances the utilization of fibrous feed.Preparation of urea molasses blocks appears to be an appropriate technology to fulfill the requirements of animals. A fattening trial was conducted on two groups of buffalo calves with 8 calves per group, to study the comparative efficiency of urea molasses mineral block and urea treated wheat straw. The experiment was conducted for 90 days. Feed consumption, weight gain, feed efficiency, concentration of urea in serum, concentration of total protein in serum and digestibility of different nutrients in the animals were recorded. Economics of fattening rations was also determined. The results of the study revealed non significant differences in weight gain, feed intake, feed efficiency, concentration of urea in serum and concentration of total protein in serum of buffalo calves. Digestibility trial revealed that there was non significant difference in digestibility of dry matter, ether extract but significant difference in digestibility of crude fibre and crude protein. The findings of this study revealed the benefits of utilizing urea ammonia treated wheat straw in the fattening ration upto 38% level. It was also ascertained that urea molasses blocks are equally effective in enhancing the growth rate of buffalo calves. Moreover, urea molasses blocks are a useful tool of supplementation of forage diet because of ease of transportation and balance nutrient profile.
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