Comparative Study of Ammoniated Wheat and Paddy Straws on Nutrient Utilization and Rumen Fermentation in Cattle

Experiments were conducted on four rumen fistulated adult cattle (Bos indicus; 400-426 kg) in a latin square switch over design with four dietary treatments, viz., untreated wheat straw (T1), nrea-ammoniated wheat straw (T2), untreated paddy straw (T3) and urea-ammoniatcd paddy straw (T4) diets with varying levels of concentrate mixture to all.The urea-ammoniation increased feed intake significantly (P < 0.05) with paddy straw. The digestibilities of OM, DM and fibrous constituents were significantly (P < 0.01) higher in animals fed urea-ammoniatcd straw than untreated straw diets. The N retention (% of N intake) were 45.06 ± 2.21, 45.78 ± 0.94, 35.46 ± 1.80 and 38.45 ± 0.66 in T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively (P < 0.05). The urea treatment decreased rumen pH significantly (P < 0.05) with paddy straw, but not with wheat straw. Ammoniation of both the straws increased (P < 0.01) the concentration of acetic, and propionic acids, and TVFA in SRL. However, butyric acid concentration increased significantly (P < 0.05) only in animals fed ammoniated paddy straw ration.