• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.922-928
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• 2000

The effects of animal species and supplements on rumen fluid characteristics, plasma urea-N (PUN) concentration, plasma urea-N pool size, urea-N degradation in the gut and urea-N net flux (urea-N synthesis rate) were studied in goats and sheep, with some minor differences detected. The animals were fed either chopped rice straw ad libitum+200 g soybean meal (SBM), or chopped rice straw ad libitum+190 g soybean meal+300 g sago meal (SBM+SM) for 14 days. The supplements were isonitrogenous (80 g crude protein/animal/d). [$^{14}C$]-urea was used as the marker for urea metabolism studies. Two animals from each species were fed either supplement in a cross-over design in two periods. The results showed that rumen pH was significantly (p<0.001) lower in animals fed SBM+SM than those fed SBM supplement. The ammonia concentrations of rumen fluid were significantly (p<0.01) higher in sheep (382.9 mg N/L) than goats (363.1 mg N/L) when fed SBM supplement but lower (282.5 mg N/L) than that of goats (311.0 mg N/L) when fed SBM+SM supplement. Total VFA concentrations were significantly (p<0.05) higher in animals fed SBM+SM supplement than those fed SBM supplement. Goats had significantly (p<0.01) higher molar proportions of acetate (79.1, 77.7%, respectively) than sheep (75.8, 74.0%, respectively) in both supplements. The molar proportion of acetate was significantly (p<0.05) higher, while that of butyrate lower in animals fed SBM supplement than those fed SBM+SM supplement. In animals fed SBM supplement, the molar proportion of propionate was significantly (p<0.01) higher in sheep (18.0%) than in goats (15.6%), but in animals fed SBM+SM, the molar proportion of butyrate was significantly (p<0.01) higher (9.6%) in sheep than in goats (7.2%). Plasma urea-N concentration, plasma urea-N pool size, urea-N degradation in the gut, urea-N net flux and the fraction of urea-C from the blood entering the rumen were not significantly different between goats and sheep fed either supplement. However, PUN concentration was significantly (p<0.05) lower in animals fed SBM+SM supplement (average of 13.8 mg N/100 ml) than in those fed SBM supplement (average of 16.5 mg N/100 ml). The urea net flux was significantly (p<0.05) higher in goats (average of 14.5 g N/d) than sheep (average of 12.9 g N/d), and animals fed SBM supplement showed higher (average of 14.9 g N/d) urea net flux than animals fed SBM+SM supplement (average of 12.9 g N/d). A significant (p<0.05) positive correlation was observed between urea-N net flux and urea-N degradation; urea-N net flux and pool size; urea-N net flux and urea excretion in the urine; and PUN and rumen ammonia in goats. While in sheep, significant (p<0.05) positive correlation was observed between urea-N net flux and urea excretion in the urine; and PUN and rumen ammonia.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.527-530
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• 1994

The effect of orally supplemented urea on eating and rumination behaviour of sheep fed a low-quality hay was investigated in this study. Daily time spent eating was not influenced by ruminal addition of urea, thus the eating rate (g DM/min) also did not change with urea supplementation. The rumination appearance (the lag time after eating) tended to be shorted with urea supplement than without supplement, but not significantly (p>0.05). Daily time spent ruminating was in the range of 600-630 min/d, and rumination index (ruminating time/100 g DM ingested) was 85 min. on the average for all the treatments, but there were no significant differences among the values in each treatment. Daily number of rumination periods tended to be smaller with urea supplement than with no urea, but not significantly (p>0.05), and cyclic rate was almost constant in all the treatments. From these results, it may be concluded that an administration of urea in sheep receiving hay diet could have little effect on eating and rumination behaviour, when it was given at two times a day.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 1987

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of plant density and urea supplement on the yield, quality, value and total nitrogen, alkaloid contents of burley tobacco leaves. The results were as fellows; As urea supplement were increased from 0kg/10a to 50kg/10a, yield, total alkaloid, total nitrogen of cured leaf were significantly increased. The lower plant density levels also increased dry weight and leaf area per plant. Price of cured leaves were not influenced by plant density and amounts of urea supplemented. The effects of plant density and urea supplement on the number of leaves were not detected.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.653-658
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• 1992

Crossbred dairy does were fed a roughage diet (IVOMD 56%, N 2.27%) ad libitum, and supplemented with urea-molasses (3% W : W) (UM) at levels on an air dry basis of 1.5% or 3% of liveweight or an iso-energetic, iso-nitrogenous mixture of cottonseed meal and molasses (25 : 75 w : w) (CM). Eight does, four lower-producers and four higher-producers (1.9 and 2.5 kg/day respectively in week 7 of lactation) arranged in two Latin Squares, received each of the four diets for three weeks. Dry matter, digestible organic matter and N intakes were higher for high-producers and high levels of supplement but did not differ between nitrogen sources. Milk production was higher by high-producers; interactions were significant between level of supplement and production group and between level of supplement and N-source, with maximum production by high producers on high levels of CM. The main effects of level of supplement were only significant for production or composition. and total solids; N-source did not have significant effects on liveweight, milk production or composition. We conclude that does of moderate capacity for milk production, receiving a diet of two-thirds moderate quality roughage, one third urea-molasses, will not respond to increased level of supplementation or to replacement of urea with cottonseed meal.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.193-198
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• 2004

Eighteen water buffalo calves of Nili-Ravi breed (about 15 months age and of $147{\pm}12$ kg average body weight and mixed sex) were used with six animals on each treatment. All the animals were fed long wheat straw for ad libitum intake as the basal ration. Animals in group-I were supplemented with ad libitum amount of urea molasses block having cotton seed meal (CSMB) while the animals in group-II were supplemented with ad libitum urea molasses block containing sunflower seed meal (SFMB) and group III animals were supplemented with a fixed amount of commercial concentrate feed (CCF). The experiment lasted for a period of 80 days (April to June). Results revealed a significantly decreased total feed intake (wheat straw+supplements) in group-III ($1,666{\pm}52$ g/h/d) as compared to group I ($2,299{\pm}194$ g/h/d) and group-II ($2,193{\pm}230$ g/h/d). Average daily supplement intakes were $891{\pm}87$; $666{\pm}104$ and $593{\pm}0$ grams per head in group I, II and III, respectively. Supplement intakes among groups were different (p<0.05). Average daily body weight gains (g/h) were $214{\pm}25$, $174{\pm}23 $and $183{\pm}24$ for group I, II and III, respectively. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was found to be $10.74{\pm}1.12$, $12.60{\pm}0.88$ and $9.90{\pm}1.33$ grams for group No. I, II and III, respectively. The economic net benefit of live weight gain of calves were 7.63, 6.11 and 7.33 rupees/h/d for group No. I, II and III, respectively. Thus SFM can replace CSM and urea molasses blocks can replace commercial concentrates as supplement to basal ration of wheat straw.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.1136-1144
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• 2016

Leucaena silage was supplemented with different levels of molasses and urea to study its nutritive value and in vitro rumen fermentation efficiency. The ensiling study was randomly assigned according to a $3{\times}3$ factorial arrangement in which the first factor was molasses (M) supplement at 0%, 1%, and 2% of crop dry matter (DM) and the second was urea (U) supplement as 0%, 0.5%, and 1% of the crop DM, respectively. After 28 days of ensiling, the silage samples were collected and analyzed for chemical composition. All the nine Leucaena silages were kept for study of rumen fermentation efficiency using in vitro gas production techniques. The present result shows that supplementation of U or M did not affect DM, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber content in the silage. However, increasing level of U supplementation increased crude protein content while M level did not show any effect. Moreover, the combination of U and M supplement decreased the content of mimosine concentration especially with M2U1 (molasses 2% and urea 1%) silage. The result of the in vitro study shows that gas production kinetics, cumulation gas at 96 h and in vitro true digestibility increased with the increasing level of U and M supplementation especially in the combination treatments. Supplementation of M and U resulted in increasing propionic acid and total volatile fatty acid whereas, acetic acid, butyric acid concentrations and methane production were not changed. In addition, increasing U level supplementation increased $NH_3$-N concentration. Result from real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed a significant effect on total bacteria, whereas F. succinogenes and R. flavefaciens population while R. albus was not affected by the M and U supplementation. Based on this study, it could be concluded that M and urea U supplementation could improve the nutritive value of Leucaena silage and enhance in vitro rumen fermentation efficiency. This study also suggested that the combination use of M and U supplementation level was at 2% and 1%, respectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.195-204
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• 2002

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of three categories of supplements on intake and diet induced difference on degradation of straw substrates. Sixteen crossbred cattle fitted with rumen cannula were randomly divided into 4 equal groups. Animals were fed on wheat straw ad libitum without any supplement except mineral mixture (control; $T_1$) or supplemented with concentrate mixture (CS; $T_2$) or green Lucerne (GLS; $T_3$) or urea-molasses block lick (ULS; $T_4$). Total dry matter intake in $T_2$, $T_3$ and $T_4$ was increased by 70, 54 and 49%, respectively compared to $T_1$ which was only 1.55 kg/100 kg B.Wt. Other than control animals, straw intake was less on $T_3$ than $T_2$ or $T_4$. In Sacco degradation of untreated and urea treated wheat or paddy straw in different treatments indicated that the supplements had a significant (p<0.01) impact on rapidly soluble (A) and insoluble but potentially degradable (B) fractions of straw. Urea treatment increased fraction-A but, provision of supplement improved fraction-B also. Effective degradation (ED) of OM was better on $T_2$. Rate of degradation (C) of OM and CWC was dependent on diet and type of straw but hemicellulose and cellulose were related to latter factor only. ED of cell wall carbohydrates (CWC) was similar in $T_2$ and $T_4$ but higher than $T_3$. CS was more effective in improving the degradation of both untreated and urea treated straw while ULS was effective on the former only. CS had more impact on superior quality straw while contrary was true with ULS. Although GLS improved intake and degradability of untreated and urea treated straws, its bulkiness affected the straw intake compared to other supplements.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.643-650
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• 2009

Two metabolism trials were conducted with 24 wether lambs to investigate the effects of feeding crab meal and other protein supplements on N utilization, digestibility and Ca and P balance in sheep. The lambs (avg. BW, 25 kg) were randomly allotted to eight diets in each of two trials. The supplements were: i) none, negative control (NC); ii) soybean meal (SBM), control; iii) supplement based on industrial byproducts of both plant and animal origin (IPA); iv) experimental supplement based on byproducts of animal origin (ESA); v) hydrolyzed supplement No 4. (HESA); vi) commercial supplement based on animal protein (CS), $Pro-Lak^{(R)}$ vii) crab meal (CM); and viii) urea (U). The supplements supplied 33% of the total dietary N (CP, 9.8%; DM basis). Lambs fed the NC diet had lower (p<0.05) DM and OM digestibility. Lower (p<0.05) apparent absorption of N was recorded for the lambs fed the HESA and NC diets. Sheep fed CM had lower Ca absorption compared to SBM. Highest (p<0.05) P absorption was observed for lambs fed CS and CM and lowest for U and NC diets. Sheep fed CM had higher (p<0.05) total VFA concentration (65.7 ${\mu}mol/ml$), compared to those fed ESA, CS, and NC diets (47.3, 49.8, and 49.5 ${\mu}mol/ml$, respectively). Highest (p<0.05) ruminal $NH_3$ N (29.6 mg/dl) was observed in lambs fed the U diet, while those fed the NC diet had the lowest (p<0.05) average value (7.66 mg/dl). Lambs fed the U diet had the highest (p<0.05) blood urea N (10.67 mg/dl). The present study showed that N utilization of diets supplemented with experimental supplements based on feather meal and blood meal; commercial supplement based on animal protein, $Prolak^{(R)}$ supplement based on plant protein and blood meal; and crab meal are comparable with that of soybean meal.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.213-218
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• 1988

Forty eight growing bulls of two breed types(red Sahiwal and white Kilari), fed rice straw, were allocated to nine treatment groups: 1. Control straw (CS) 2. Urea upgraded straw (UUS) 3. UUS + 0.25 kg coconut cake (CC) 4. UUS + 0.75 kg CC 5. UUS + 0.25 kg rice bran (RB) 6. UUS + 1.00 kg RB 7. UUS + 0.25 kg RB + 0.25 kg CC 8. UUS + 1.00 kg RB + 0.25 kg CC 9. CS + 1.00 kg RB + 0.25 kg CC Liveweight gain was measured weekly during 15 weeks and tested in three analyses of variance. The results are: Urea upgraded straw produced a liveweight gain $180g.d^{-1}$ higher (P <0.01) than control straw. The groups supplemented with 0.25 kg coconut cake and 1.00 kg rice bran showed an increase of $100g.d^{-1}$ (p < 0.05) over the unsupplemented groups. No interaction between straw upgrading and supplementation was present (P > 0.10). Both rice bran and coconut press cake, supplemented to upgraded straw at a level of 0.25 kg, did not increase liveweight gain (P>0.05), but 1.0 kg rice bran increased gain by $90g.d^{-1}$ (P<0.05). A supplement of 0.75 kg coconut press cake to upgraded straw increased liveweight gain by $160g.d^{-1}$ compared with 0.25 kg or 0.00 kg coconut cake supplement (P<0.05). There were no significant differences between breed types (P>0.10) or interactions between breed and the other two main treatments (upgrading and supplementation). It was concluded. that both urea upgrading and supplementation of rice straw increase animal performance. The effect of urea upgrading was the same for both supplemented and unsupplemented animals. There was no indication of a nonlinear effect of supplements on growth.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.219-223
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• 1990

Sixtyfour Baluchi lambs about 5 months of age were divided into four groups with 16 lambs each. All the animals were grazed together. Group No.1 (G-1) was kept as control i.e. on grazing only; while group No. 2 (G-2) was offered barley grain @ 200 g/head/day as supplement to grazing; Group No. 3 (G-3) was offered ad-lib urea-molasses block (UMB) with 6% cement and group No.4 (G-4) was fed ad-lib IMB having 8% cement. These UMB were fed as supplement to grazing. Experiment lasted for 105 days (July to October) in arid zone of Baluchistan. Daily per head consumption of block No.1 was found to be 92.71 g; while that of block No.2 was observed to be 90.77 g. Growth rate (g/head/day) was found to be 10, 50, 33 and 15 in G-1, G-2, G-3 and G-4 respectively. Expenditure/kg bodyweight gain was found to be rupees 12.00, 3.64 and 7.74 for G-2, G-3 and G-4 respectively.