OVERCOMING THE NUTRITIONAL LIMITATIONS OF RICE STRAW FOR RUMINANTS 3. UREA AMMONIA UPGRADING OF STRAW AND SUPPLEMENTATION WITH RICE BRAN AND COCONUT CAKE FOR GROWING RULLS

Forty eight growing bulls of two breed types(red Sahiwal and white Kilari), fed rice straw, were allocated to nine treatment groups: 1. Control straw (CS) 2. Urea upgraded straw (UUS) 3. UUS + 0.25 kg coconut cake (CC) 4. UUS + 0.75 kg CC 5. UUS + 0.25 kg rice bran (RB) 6. UUS + 1.00 kg RB 7. UUS + 0.25 kg RB + 0.25 kg CC 8. UUS + 1.00 kg RB + 0.25 kg CC 9. CS + 1.00 kg RB + 0.25 kg CC Liveweight gain was measured weekly during 15 weeks and tested in three analyses of variance. The results are: Urea upgraded straw produced a liveweight gain $180g.d^{-1}$ higher (P <0.01) than control straw. The groups supplemented with 0.25 kg coconut cake and 1.00 kg rice bran showed an increase of $100g.d^{-1}$ (p < 0.05) over the unsupplemented groups. No interaction between straw upgrading and supplementation was present (P > 0.10). Both rice bran and coconut press cake, supplemented to upgraded straw at a level of 0.25 kg, did not increase liveweight gain (P>0.05), but 1.0 kg rice bran increased gain by $90g.d^{-1}$ (P<0.05). A supplement of 0.75 kg coconut press cake to upgraded straw increased liveweight gain by $160g.d^{-1}$ compared with 0.25 kg or 0.00 kg coconut cake supplement (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between breed types (P>0.10) or interactions between breed and the other two main treatments (upgrading and supplementation). It was concluded. that both urea upgrading and supplementation of rice straw increase animal performance. The effect of urea upgrading was the same for both supplemented and unsupplemented animals. There was no indication of a nonlinear effect of supplements on growth.