Abstract 353

Wanapat,-M; Praserdsuck,-S; Chantai,-S

Dep. of Anim. Sci., Khon Kaen Univ., Khon Kaen 4000, Thailand.

TropicalAnimal-Production. 1985, 10: 1, 44-49; 16 ref.

Buffalo steers were fed (a) untreated rice straw, (b) rice straw ensiled for 3 weeks in a 1:1 ratio with a 5% urea and 0.3% salt solution, or (c) urea-ensiled straw + dried cassava leaves. Contents of DM were 96.7, 47.3 and 94.1%, CP 3.3, 8.0 and 26.1% of DM, and acid-detergent fibre 54.7, 62.5 and 38.4% of DM in (a), (b) and dried cassava leaves, resp. Digestibility coeff. of all fractions were increased by urea-ensiling rice straw, and addition of cassava leaves gave a further increase. Using lignin as a marker, apparent digestibility of OM was 56.4, 64.4 and 66.6%, of acid-detergent fibre 43.4, 58.5 and 59.9% and of CP 2.9, 22.2 and 26.6%, in (a), (b) and (c), resp. DM intake by buffalo steers was 4.77, 6.14 and 5.52 kg/day and weight change was -383, 136 and 182 g/day on diets of (a), (b) and (c), resp.