Associative effect of lime plus urea treatment of paddy straw on chemical composition and in vitro digestibility

Abstract

Chopped paddy Straw (0.5 to l.5 cm long)" was subjected to different treatment combinations in a 5 x 4 factorial arrangement involving the 5 levels of urea (0, 2, 3, 4 and 5% w/w) and 4 levels of lime (0, 2, 4 and 6% w/w) at 50% moisture for 3 weeks. Cell wall constituents (CWC) solubilised significantly due to synergistic effect of urea plus lime treatment. Crude protein increased with increased levels of urea addition from 3.57% in untreated straw to 15.86% in different treatment combinations. Lignin and silica of straw decreased with increasing concentrations of urea plus lime. In vitro digestibilities of OM and OM increased by 25,65 and 23.65 units, respectively, over untreated straw because of associative effect of urea with lime treatment in different combinations, Chemical and in vitfa observations showed that a combination of 3% urea plus 4% lime at 50% moisture for 3 weeks reaction time was the most effective treatment for improving digestibility of paddy straw.