Effect of feeding of urea ammoniated soybean straw on dry matter intake, yield and quality of cow milk

Feeding of untreated (T2) and 2% urea treated SBS (T3) was evaluated in reference to Jowar straw diet (T1) with the main objective to find out its effect on dry matter intake, yield and quality of cow milk. Enrichment of soybean straw with urea increases the palatability and acceptability of SBS in cows, which results in more consumption of straw by 42% in reference to untreated straw. Over the experimental period, T3 cows produced 26 and 29, and 24 and 25% more milk and 4% FCM despite of reduction in the concentrates feeding by 62 and 42% in comparison to T1 and T2 cows, respectively. Similarly, the quality of milk in respect to specific gravity, fat, protein, SNF and total solids contents were significantly improved in T3 than that of T1 and T2 groups. The results do suggest that 2% urea treated SBS can find a place in the ration of lactating cows without any adverse effect on performance of cows.