• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.16 no.11
• /
• pp.1583-1591
• /
• 2003

The influence of varying levels of urea and additives on nitrogen (N) retention and chemical composition of wheat straw was studied. The wheat straw was treated with 4, 6 and 8% urea and ensiled with 1.5, 2 and 2.5% of acetic or formic acid and 2, 4 and 6% of corn steep liquor (CSL) or acidified molasses for 15 days. The N content of wheat straw was significantly different across all treatments. The N content of urea treated wheat straw was increased with the increasing level of urea. The N content was higher in urea treated wheat straw ensiled with acetic or formic acid as compared to urea treated wheat straw ensiled without these organic acids. The N content of urea treated wheat straw was further enhanced when it was ensiled with CSL or acidified molasses. This effect was significant across all levels of urea used to treat the wheat straw. Nitrogen retention in urea treated wheat straw was decreased linearly as the urea level was increased to treat the wheat straw. The N content was increased linearly when higher levels of CSL or acidified molasses were used to ensile the urea treated wheat straw. Most of the N in urea treated wheat straw was held as neutral detergent insoluble N (NDIN). The NDIN content was increased linearly with the increasing levels of urea and additives. The neutral detergent fiber (NDF) contents were higher in urea treated wheat straw ensiled with acetic or formic acid as compared to urea treated wheat straw ensiled without additive. The NDF content further increased in urea treated wheat straw ensiled with CSL and acidified molasses. The entire increase in NDF content was because of fiber bound N. The hemicellulose content of urea treated wheat straw ensiled with CSL or acidified molasses was higher as compared to urea treated wheat straw ensiled with acetic or formic acid. The acid detergent fiber content of urea treated wheat straw ensiled with or without additives remained statistically non-significant. The cellulose contents of wheat straw was linearly reduced when urea level was increased from 4 to 6 and 8% to treat the wheat straw. This effect was further enhanced when urea treated wheat straw was ensiled with different additives. The results of the present study indicated that fermentable carbohydrates might improve the Nitrogen retention and bring the favorable changes in physiochemical nature of wheat straw. However, biological evaluation of urea treated wheat straw ensiled with fermentable carbohydrates is required.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.493-498
• /
• 1994

The response of crossbred Holstein milking cows to the neutralized urea-treated rice straw feeding was investigated. Rice straw was treated with 6% urea for at least 21 days and further with sulfuric acid for overnight to complete the neutralization. The neutralized straw was then sun-dried and its feeding value was compared with that of the dried non-neutralized urea-treated straw. They were fed to the cows with concentrates either by the ration formulation based on the nutrient requirements for milk production recommended by NRC or by the traditional way in which straw was fed ad libitum and concentrates at 1 kg/2 kg of milk production. The results showed that milk production as well as milk composition of cows were not different between neutralized and non-neutralized straw. The feeding of the neutralized straw could significantly reduce the supply of protein-rich feed such as soybean oil meal, and it was demonstrated that ammonium sulfate in the neutralized straw could be utilized as effective as the plant origin protein. The results also suggested that if the traditional feeding method is applied to the dairy cattle, protein content of the supplementing concentrates should be increased to meet the requirement.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.23 no.8
• /
• pp.1022-1027
• /
• 2010

Effects of increasing dietary rice straw on chewing activity, ruminal fermentation, and fibrolytic enzyme activity in growing goats were investigated in a $4{\times}4$ Latin Square experiment. The goats were offered four diets with an increasing proportion of rice straw (i.e. 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20, respectively, on dry matter basis). Increasing level of rice straw increased ($P_{linear\;effect}$ <0.05) the time spent on eating, ruminating, and chewing. The ruminal pH and acetate: propionate ratio were increased ($P_{linear\;effect}$ <0.05), while the $NH_3$-N concentration was decreased ($P_{linear\;effect}$ <0.01). Increasing level of rice straw in the diet increased ($P_{linear\;effect}{\leq}0.01$) molar proportion of acetate and isovalerate, and decreased ($P_{linear\;effect}$ <0.01) molar proportion of propionate. The CMCase, xylanase and cellobiase activities in the rumen were decreased ($P_{linear\;effect}$ <0.05) with increasing level of dietary rice straw, whereas the avicelase activity was increased ($P_{linear\;effect}$ <0.01). In summary, increased level of rice straw elevated the dietary neutral detergent fibre (NDF) content in the diet and had a great impact on chewing activity and ruminal fermentation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.13 no.8
• /
• pp.1084-1093
• /
• 2000

An in vitro gas production system was used to investigate the influence of various substrate mixtures on a natural mix of rumen microbes by measurement of fermentation end-products. The treatments were combinations of cassava (15.0, 30.0 and 45.0%) with different roughage sources (ruzi grass, rice straw or urea treated rice straw). Microbial biomass, net $^{15}N$ incorporation into cells, volatile fatty acid production, gas volume and rate of gas production increased linearly with increasing levels of cassava inclusion. There was also an effect of roughage source, with rice straw being associated with the lowest values for most parameters whilst similar values were obtained for ruzi grass and urea treated rice straw. The results suggest that microbial growth and fermentation rate increase as a function of readily available carbohydrate in the substrate mixture. A strong linear relationship between $^{15}N$ enrichment, total volatile fatty acid production and gas production kinetics support the suggestion of the use of the in vitro gas production system as a tool for screening feedstuffs as an initial stage of feed evaluation.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.161-171
• /
• 2022

The edible paddy straw mushroom Volvariella volvacea (Bull. ex F.) Singer has high nutritional and medicinal values. They are grown on a wide variety of agricultural by-products using different several methods. The result of this present study showed that type of bed and cultivation condition (outdoor/indoor) had effects on the yield of paddy straw mushrooms grown on the spent oyster mushroom sawdust. The treatment of circular compact bed under indoor cultivation condition (CYIC) had the best yield and biological efficiency (B.E.) with 2,119.2 g/bed and 14.5%, respectively, followed by the treatment of conventional bed under outdoor cultivation condition (COOC) with the yield and B.E. of 1,935.5 g/bed and 13.2%, respectively, but the lowest yield and B.E. were observed in the treatment of conventional bed under indoor cultivation condition (COIC) with 1,226.1 g/bed and 8.4%, respectively. Paddy straw mushrooms cultivated on spent oyster mushroom sawdust should be proper in both outdoor and indoor conditions by conventional and circular compact methods as well. However, in indoor conditions, paddy straw mushrooms should be grown in a circular compact bed to ensure the temperature of the bed is suitable for the mushroom growth.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.12
• /
• pp.1689-1697
• /
• 2013

This study was designed to determine the effect of physical form and urea treatment of rice straw on rumen fermentation, microbial protein synthesis and nutrient digestibility. Four rumen-fistulated dairy steers were randomly assigned according to a 2 (2 factorial arrangement in a 4 (4 Latin square design to receive four dietary treatments. Factor A was roughage source: untreated rice straw (RS) and urea-treated (3%) rice straw (UTRS), and factor B was type of physical form of rice straw: long form rice straw (LFR) and chopped (4 cm) rice straw (CHR). The steers were offered the concentrate at 0.5% body weight (BW) /d and rice straw was fed ad libitum. DM intake and nutrient digestibility were increased (p<0.05) by urea treatment. Ruminal pH were decreased (p<0.05) in UTRS fed group, while ruminal ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were increased (p<0.01) by urea treatment. Total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations increased (p<0.01) when steers were fed UTRS. Furthermore, VFA concentrations were not altered by treatments (p>0.05), except propionic acid (C3) was increased (p<0.05) in UTRS fed group. Nitrogen (N) balance was affected by urea treatment (p<0.05). Microbial protein synthesis (MCP) synthesis were greater by UTRS and CHR group (p<0.05). The efficiency of microbial N synthesis was greater for UTRS than for RS (p<0.05). From these results, it can be concluded that using the long form combined with urea treatment of rice straw improved feed intake, digestibility, rumen fermentation and efficiency of microbial N synthesis in crossbred dairy steers.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.309-318
• /
• 2007

The effects of supplementation of organic citrus on the quality of rice straw silage was investigated in this study. The aim of the study was to improve the quality of rice straw silage using agricultural by-products and therefore to secure the good quality forage sources. Firstly, looking at chemical composition of citrus added rice straw silage, crude protein content appeared improved with the addition of citrus to rice straw silage compared to control while NDF and ADF contents decreased. pH of the silages were different between control(4.39) and treatments$(3.47\sim3.53)$. Lactic acid content was higher in citrus added silage(4.87mM) than in control (3.65mM). External quality of the silages was also better in citrus added silage when citrus added at the equal ratio with rice straw(1 : 1). This trend was the same as with pH and lactic acid content. Propionate was significantly higher in citrus addd silage but butyrate was significantly lower. DM and NDF disappearance rates in the rumen were highest when citrus added at the equal ratio with rice straw(1:1). In conclusion, supplementation of citrus to rice straw silage with equal ratio contributed the best to the improvement of the quality of silage and it may have been due mainly to abundant content of non-structural carbohydrate in citrus.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.265-271
• /
• 1994

The effect of soybean meal and barley supplementation of the utilization of rice straw was investigated. Balance trials were conducted with three Japanese Corriedale wethers fed rice straw supplemented with soybean meal and barley at three different levels of protein: low (40 g CP/d, LCP), medium (67 g/d, MCP) and high (94 g/d, HCP). In addition, all the supplements were formulated to contain the same amount of TDN (275 g/d). Voluntary intake of rice straw was not affected by any supplementation, while digestibility of organic matter in sheep given HCO diet was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those on LCP diet. Crude protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) digestibilities of MCP and HCP diets were significantly improved (p<0.05) over the LCP diet. Average daily gain of the animals under MCP and HCP diets were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those under LCP diet. Differences of rumen pH among the treatments were not significant, while concentration of rumen $NH_3-N$ was significantly higher (p<0.05) for HCP diet than for LCP and MCP diets. Total volatile fatty acids ($VFA_s$) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentrations were significantly higher (p<0.05) in sheep fed MCP and HCP diets than those fed LCP diet, while plasma total protein concentration was not affected by any supplementation. Sheep fed MCP diet had a higher nitrogen retention than those fed LCP and HCP diets. It was concluded that rice straw was utilized better by sheep when SBM and barley were supplemented at the medium level of protein.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.259-264
• /
• 1993

Rice straw treated with anhydrous ammonia and/or sulphur dioxide was incubated with rumen liquor for 24 hours and 48 hours to investigate the changes in cell wall structure caused by the treatments and bacterial degradation using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A less significant tissue loss of untreated rice straw was inspected after incubated for 24 hours and 48 hours. Sulphuration decreased the thickness of sclerenchyma and apparently removed parenchyma tissues. Ammoniation degraded the phloem, and the lignified inner portion of the cell wall was completely, however, little collapsed epidemis and vascular bundles. Ammonia and Sulphur dioxide combined treatment removed the inner layer from outer layer. The extent of apparent degradability following combination treatment was the largest due to the enhanced microbial degradation of sclerenchyma and parenchyma cells.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.11
• /
• pp.1573-1578
• /
• 2002

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of diets that contained different levels of fungal treated wheat straw on the intake, digestibility and performance of lactating cows. Eight primiparous Holstein cows, in late lactation ranging from $170{\pm}10$ days in milk and yielding $14.3{\pm}1.3$ kg/d of fat corrected milk (FCM) were allocated into four diets with 0, 10, 20 and 30% fungal (Pleurotus ostreatus coded P-41) treated wheat straw in a $4{\times}4$ Latin Square experiment. The daily intake of DM, OM, DOM, CP and TDN were not affected by substitution of alfalfa hay with fungal treated wheat straw. Inclusion of the treated straw at different levels in the diet did not affect the digestibility of nutrients, except for the ADF that was significantly (p<0.05) reduced in the diet contained 30% treated straw. The types of the diet did not significantly affect daily milk and FCM production. The milk composition including fat, protein, lactose, solid non-fat (SNF) and total solid (TS) were not statistically (p>0.05) different among the diets. All cows gained weight, but the inclusion of treated straw to the diet significantly (p<0.05) increased the body weight gain and the highest amount was obtained in the diet containing 20% treated. Inclusion of fungal treated wheat straw up to 30% of the diet of lactating cows supplemented with a protein source such as cottonseed meal had not affected the nutrients intake and lactation performance.