Nutritional evaluation of sugarcane bagasse based rations treated with urea and cattle manure

A basal ration containing 50% sugarcane bagasse was supplemented with 5% urea, 10% fresh cattle manure and 35% water, and was then stored in sealed plastic bags for 30 and 60 days at ambient temperatures. Representative samples were taken on Days 0, 30 and 60 for analysis and nutritional evaluation. The results indicated that the dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and ammonia content of the treated ration was increased (47.6 to 54.4%, 18.4 to 22.2% and 0 to 2.2%, respectively) after 60 days. The addition of 10% cattle manure effectively hydrolysed the added urea into ammonia. The presence of ammonia at the end of the 60-day treatment indicated that the quality of the treated mixture was well preserved. The values of cell wall constituents such as neutral detergent fibre (NDF), hemicellulose and acid detergent lignin (ADL) decreased significantly and correlate well with each other. The cellulose content of the treated material increased significantly however. A complete formula ration was then developed containing 90% of the basic treated mixture with 5% molasses and 5% rice polishings. A digestibility study was conducted on wethers. The mean voluntary feed intake was 3.70 kg DM 100 kg^-1 liveweight. The mean digestibility values for DM, CP, CF, EE, Ash, NDF, acid detergent fibre (ADF), hemicellulose and ADL were 58.7 ± 4.4, 84.4 ± 3.9%, 79.5 ± 4.9%, 82.6 ± 3.7%, 65.5 ± 6.4 %, 54.4 ± 11.9%, 73.5 ± 6.6%, 79.6 ± 5.2% and 59.6 ± 9.5%, respectively. Overall, treating bagasse to form a mixed ration seems to have promising results.