# Effect of Graded Levels of Rice Mill Feed (RMF) Supplementation on Intake, Nutrient Digestibility, Microbial N Yield and Growth Rate of Native (Bos Indicus) Bulls Fed Rice Straw Alone

• Chowdhury, S.A. (Animal Production Research Division, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute)
Rice bran commonly available in Bangladesh is a mixture of rice hulls (60%), bran (35%) and polishing (5%), referred here as rice mill feed (RMF). Dose response effect of RMF supplementation to a straw diet including a zero level was measured on the intake, digestibility, nitrogen balance, microbial N yield and growth rate of growing native (Bos indicus) bulls. Twelve bulls of 33 months old and $272{\pm}31.5kg$ weight were randomly allocated to diets having 0 (T1), 1 (T2) and 2 (T3) kg RMF in addition to 200 g wheat bran, 200 g molasses, 60 g salt and 30 g oyestershe\l powder. Concentrate intake was 5.5, 19.2 and 29.5% of the dietary intake for the T1, T2 and T3 treatment respectively. RMF supplementation had no significant effect on the straw DM intake. However, with the increasing levels of RMF supplementation, total DM & digestible OM intake and the whole gut digestibilities of DM, OM, N & ADF increased but in deminishig return. Total microbial N yield estimated from the urinary purine excretion were 15.35, 26.56 and 38.44 g/d for the treatment T1, T2 and T3 respectively. Both the N intake and the N balance increased linearly in response to increasing level of RMF. Supplementation of RMF linearly increased the energy intake and dietary energy concentration. Growth rate in the T1, T2 and T3 treatments were 112, 125 and 250 g/d respctively. The basal N excretion and the maintenance energy requirement of the experimental animals were estimated to be 615 mg/kg $W^{0.75}/d$ and 447 kJ/kg $W^{0.75}/d$ respectively. The estimated efficiency on N utilization was 0.83 mg/mg of N intake ($r^2=0.997$) while the efficiency of metabolizable energy utilization for growth was 0.15. Since animal refused higher levels of RMF, inclusion up to 2 kg level (about 25% of the total DM intake) appears to have no depressing effect on the performances of animal. However, RMF itself fail to meet the critical nutrient need of the rumen microbes. Therefore response of supplementing RMF after correcting the critical nutrient deficiency need to be studied.