The effect of urea processed canola straw on nutrients digestibility, growth performance and blood parameters of Dalagh rams

Authors

Assistant professor, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Univesity of Gonbad Kavous

Abstract

Background and purpose: About 70% of the cost of livestock breeding is related to feed, so the preparation of balanced diet with inexpensive ingredients can play an important role in the profitability of production in breeding. One of the cheapest sources of feed for ruminant animals is the agricultural by-products that are not consumed by humans. Canola Straw is one of the major agricultural by products in Golestan province whose digestibility is low because of containing high amounts of lignocellulosic materials. Processing lignosellulotic feeds with alkaline components can improve their digestibility throw breaking cellulos-lignine bonds. This research was conducted to investigate the effect of canola straw processing with urea on feed digestibility and weight gain performance and some blood parameters of fattening lambs.
Materials and methods: For this purpose, 18 5-month-old male lambs of the Dalaqh breed (30-35 kg body weight) were randomly assigned to three nutritional treatments. The control treatment was a fattening diet with a ratio of forage (alfalfa and straw in equal proportions) to concentrate 64:36. In the second treatment, 50% of wheat straw was replaced with untreated canola straw and in the third treatment with urea treated canola straw. After a two-week habituation period with the same ration and initial weighing, experimental rations were fed to the lambs and continued until the end of the 70-day fattening period. During this period, the lambs were weighed every 14 days. At the end of the period, the lambs were weighed and blood sampled. Blood samples were analyzed to determine the serum urea nitrogen, glucose and total protein concentrations. In order to determine the feed intake and digestibility, during two weeks, the remaining feed and feces samples of each animal were collected daily, and the amount of acid insoluble ash was used as an internal marker to calculate the digestibility of experimental feeds.
Results: The average daily feed intake of lambs fed with a diet containing processed canola straw (925.00 gr.day-1) was significantly (P<0.05) higher than lambs fed with diet containing wheat straw or unprocessed canola straw (respectively 887.32 and 850.00 gr.day-1). Also average daily gain of lambs in treated canola straw group was significantly higher than untreated canola straw group (respectively 178.09 vs. 141.53, P<0.05), but feed treatments had no significant effect on feed conversion rate of lambs. Processing with urea significantly (P<0.05) increased the digestibility of dry matter, NDF and ADF (respectively 61.30, 71.11 and 35.30 %) compared to unprocessed canola straw (respectively 55.45, 66.42 and 27.96%) and control (respectively 58.80, 68.82 and 28.76 %). Processing canola straw with urea significantly (P<0.05) increased crud protein digestibility of diet compared to control (60.32 vs. 54.04 %). The levels of serum urea in treated canola straw treatment was significantly higher than untreated canola straw and wheat straw treatments (respectively 17.82, 15.50, 14.82 mg/dl, P<0.05), but the average serum glucose, total protein, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were not significantly different among the treatments.
Conclusion: The results of this research showed that canola straw processing with urea can improve its nutritional value and nutrient digestibility, feed intake and weight gain performance of lambs.

Keywords


  1. Abreu, J.M.F. and Soares, A.M.B. 1999. Characterization and Utilization of Rice, Legume and Rape Straw, Institute of Agronomy. Lisbon. Portugal.

    Ahmet, S., Khan, M.J., Shahjalal and Islam, K.M.S. 2002. Effects of feeding urea and soybean meal-treated rice straw on digestibility of feed nutrients and growth performance of Bull Calves. Asian Australian Journal of Animal Science. 15(4):522-527.

    AOAC. 2005. International Official Methods of Analysis, XXI. Gaithersburg, M.D. AOAC International.

    Azizi, M., Soltani, A. and Khavari, S. 2016. Colza: Physiology, Cultivation, Breeding and Biotechnology, (Translation) 3rd ed. Mashhad Jahad-e Daneshgahi publication. pp: 232 (In Persian).

    Boda, K. 1990. Non-conventional Feedstuffs in the Nutrition of Farm Animals. 1st Edition, Elsevier Science Ltd. Amsterdam. pp: 257.

    Davoodi, P. 2003. Improvement of canola straw nutritional value using processing methods in sheep feeding. MSc. thesis, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. pp: 165 (In Persian).

    Doig, R.B. 2001. Straw ration-wintering cow. Available in: www. Arg.gov.sk.ca/DOCS livestock/beef/html.

    Dutta, N., Sharma, K. and Naulia, U. 2004. Nutritional evaluation of lentil (Lens culinaris) straw and urea treated wheat straw in goats and lactating buffaloes. Asian Australian Journal of Animal Science. 17 (11): 1529-1534.

    Ghiasvand, M., Rezayazdi, K. and Dehghan Banadaki, M. 2012. The effects of different processing methods on chemical composition and ruminal degradability of canola straw and its effect on fattening performance of male Holstein calves. Journal of Animal Science Researches. 22: 93-104 (In Persian).

    Hamelinck, C.N., Van Hooijdonk, G. and Faaij, A.P. 2005. Ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass: techno-economic performance in short-, middle-and long-term. Biomass and Bioenergy. 28: 384-410.

    Lary, G. and Anderson, A. 1999. Alternative Feeds for Ruminants. North Dakota State University Agriculture and University Extension (NDSU). available in: www.ag.ndsu.edu.

    Mehra, U.R., Sahu, D.S., Naik, P.K., Dass, A.S. and Verma, A.K. 2005. Effect of long term feeding of ammoniated wheat straw treated with or without HCl on blood biochemical parameters in growing male buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) calves,.Journal of Reproduction, Nutrition, Development. 45: 163-173.

    Milano G.D., Lobley, G.E. 2001. Liver nitrogen movements during short-term infusion of high levels of ammonia into the mesenteric vein of sheep. British Journal of Nutrition. 86:507–513.

    Ministry of Agricultural Jihad information base, 2016. Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, Iran.

    Mojabi, A., Abasalipour-Kabire, M., Safi, S., Bokaei, S. and Shariati, T. 2010. Measurement of reference values of some biochemical parameters of serum samples of Ghezel breed sheep. Iranian Veterinary Science. 55 (2): 19-27. (In Persian).

    Mokhtarpoor, Gh., Taghian, A., Shabani, S and Samakoosh, A.Z. 2018. Usage of canola straw processed with urea, lime and molassess, in fattening Zel lamb diet, Research report, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization. Alborz province. pp: 34 (In Persian).

    Naseramini, P. 2010. Determination of canola straw nutritional value, using nylon bag technique and in vitro gas production. MSc. thesis. Shabestar Azad University. pp: 156. (In Persian).

    Nolan, J.V and Leng, R.A. 1972. Dynamic aspects of ammonia and urea metabolism in sheep. British Journal of Nutrition. 27:177–194.

    NRC. 1985. Nutrient Requirements of Sheep (Sixth Ed.). National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.

    Kardooni, A., Alemzadeh, B., Abarghani, A., Mashayekhi, M.R. and Taheri dezfuli, B. 2013. Effect of different levels of urea treated date palm leaves on fattening buffalo calves. Journal of Ruminant Research, 1 (1): 95-107. (In Persian).

    Khayat, A., Fazaeli, H. and Kafilzadeh, F. 2014. Effect of diets containing urea molasses on fattening performance and blood urea nitrogen of Arabian male lambs. Animal Science Journal. 105: 25-38. (In Persian).

    Kheirol-Alam, M., Ogata, Y., Sato, Y. and Sano, H. 2016. Effects of rice straw supplemented with urea and molasses on intermediary metabolism of plasma glucose and leucine in sheep. Asian Australian Journal of Animal Science. 29(4): 523-529.

    Khodaparast, B., Salamatdoust-Nobar, R., Maheri-Sis, N., Ghorbani, A. and Salamat-Azar, M. 2011. Determination of organic matter degradability of urea treated canola straw using nylon bag technique. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances. 10: 806-807.

    Orskov, E.R., Nakashima, Y., Abreu, J.M.F. and Tuah, A.K. 1992. Data on Dry Matter Degradability of Feedstuffs, available in: www. Feedstuffs. htm.

    Parandeh, H., Mohammadabadi, T., Bojarpour, M. and Chaji, M. 2012. Effect of processing of date palm leaves with urea and enzyme on nutrient digestibility, feeding behavior and some blood and rumen parameters of Arabian sheep. Iranian Veterinary Journal. 15:13-22. (In Persian).

    Rusdy, M. 2022. Chemical composition and nutritional value of urea treated rice straw for ruminants. Livestock Research for Rural Development. 34 (2) 2022.

    Sales, J. and Janssens, G.P.J. 2003. Acid-insoluble ash as a marker in digestibility studies: a review. Journal of Animal and feed Sciences. 12: 383-401.

    1. Sarnklong, C., Cone, J.W., Pellikaan, W. and Hendriks, W.H. 2010. Utilization of rice straw and different treatments to improve its feed value for ruminants: A review. Asian- Australian Journal of Animal Science, 23: 680-692.

    Sano, H and Fujita, T. 2006. Effect of supplemental calcium propionate on insulin action to blood glucose metabolism in adult sheep. Reproduction, Nutrition, Development. 46:9–18.

    Soufi Siavash, R. and Janmohamadi, H. 2000. Livestock Nutrition, (Translation) 6th ed. Amidi publication, Tabriz. pp: 838. (In Persian).

    Sethy, K., Behera, K., Sahou, N., Swain, R.K., Mishra, S.K. and Parhi, S.S. 2016. Effect of urea treated paddy straw supplementation on the performance of crossbred cows. Livestock Science. 7: 288-292.

    VanKeulen J. and Young, B. A. 1977. Evaluation of acid-insoluble ash as a natural marker in ruminant digestibility studies. Journal of Dairy Science. 44: 282-287.

    Van Soest, P.J., Robertson, J.B., Lewis, B.A., 1991, Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. Journal of Dairy Science. 74:3583–3597.

    Van Soest, P.J. 1994. Nutritional Ecology of the Ruminant. 2nd. Ed. Cornell University Press, Ithaca. NY. pp: 476.

    Wanapat, M., Kang, S., Hankla, N. and Phesatcha, K. 2013. Effect of rice straw treatment on feed intake, rumen fermentation and milk production in lactating dairy cows. African Journal of Agricultural Research. 8(17): 1677-1687.

    Zahedifar, M., Fazaeli, H., Abasi, A, Aliverdinasab, R., Asadzadeh, N., Rezaei, M. and Teimoornejad, N, 2013, Using urea processed wheat straw in TMR blocks and its effect on finishing beef calves' performance. Animal Science Journal, 100: 53-61. (In Persian).

    Zahedifar, M., Fazaeli, H and Teimoornejad, N. 2013. Study of chemical composition and fermentability of straw from some varieties and lines of wheat. Journal of Ruminant Nutrition. 1 (4): 81-95. (In Persian).