Abstract 354

Wanapat,-M; Sriwattanasombat,-S; Chantai,-S

Dep. of Anim. Sci., Khon Kaen Univ., Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.

TropicalAnimal-Production. 1985, 10: 1, 50-57; 20 ref.

Water buffalo and cattle steers were fed (a) rice straw, (b) rice straw ensiled with 5% urea, (c) urea-treated rice straw + E. crassipes in a ratio of 3:1 DW, or (d) as (c) but in a ratio of 1:1 DW. Chemical composition of the diets was 95.1, 48.6, 55.5 and 60.8% DM, 4.0, 6.2, 7.9 and 8.3% CP, and 53.1, 58.4, 54.8 and 50.4% acid-detergent fibre (DM basis) in (a), (b), (c) and (d), resp. DM intake by cattle was 3.03, 3.24, 3.30 and 3.49 kg/day of (a), (b), (c) and (d), resp. Liveweight change was -34, 7, 133 and 23 g/day. The nutrient most affected by diet was CP with 20.7, 23.8, 29.3 and 45.7% digestibility in (a), (b), (c) and (d), resp. DM intake by buffaloes was 4.21, 4.75, 6.24 and 5.05 kg/day of (a), (b), (c) and (d), resp., resulting in weight changes of -182, 79, 232 and 329 g/day, resp. CP digestibility was 23.4, 28.6, 28.8 and 50.6%, resp.