A research on dietary inclusion of urea-impregnated zeolite as slow-release urea (SRU) agent had been conducted to reveal its effect on ruminal fermentation characteristics in local lambs. The research used 24 heads of 7-8 mo old of local male lambs with (20.12±2.1 kg BW) designed upon a randomized block design. Treatments consisted of diets contained no urea, urea, zeolite, and urea-impregnated zeolite. The collected data was analyzed with UNIANOVA and Duncan's multiple-range test. Results indicated that feeding no urea, zeolite, or urea-impregnated zeolite ration produced lower ruminal ammonia nitrogen than feeding urea ration (P<0.05). Feeding zeolite ration produced lower ruminal pH than feeding urea ration (P<0.05). Despite total VFAs were similar across the treatments, feeding urea-impregnated zeolite ration produced lower ruminal acetate, acetate to propionate ratio, or methane production than feeding urea ration (P<0.05). Feeding urea ration produced the lowest molar proportion of branch-chained VFAs (P<0.05). Feeding urea ration produced higher plasma urea concentration than feeding no urea ration (2.75 mM vs. 2.16 mM; P<0.05). In conclusion, zeolite or urea-impregnated zeolite as slow-release ammonia or SRU agent was potential in decreasing ruminal ammonia, pH, acetate to propionate ratio, methane, and maintaining low plasma urea within its physiological range.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotic has made the reduction in the use of antibiotic a concern in animal production.  The restriction of antibiotic application in animal production can be achieved if the antimicrobial strategy is available.  Papaya leaf extract has some antibacterial properties that make it is potential to be used as a substitute for commercial antibiotic.  This study was aimed at assessing the efficacy and potential of papaya leaf extract inclusion in drinking water in controlling pathogenic bacteria and improving the production efficiency and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of layer quails.  The study was conducted from 24 August to 20 September 2016 at the poultry farm of Department of Animal Husbandry, Djuanda University, Bogor.  One-hundred layer quails were allocated into 4 treatments and 3 replicates in a completely randomized design.  The treatments consisted of five levels of papaya leaf extract inclusions in drinking water , namely drinking water + commercial antibiotic of 0.5 g/liter water (R1), drinking water + papaya leaf extract of 10 ml/liter water (R2), drinking water + papaya leaf extract of 20 ml/liter water (R3), and drinking water + papaya leaf extract of 30 ml/liter water (R4).  Data were subjected to an analysis of variance and a Duncan test.  Results showed that the inclusion of papaya leaf extract in drinking water gave significant effects on egg mass, egg production efficiency, FCR, egg quality index, and egg shell thickness but not on feed intake, egg weight, and mortality rate.  It was concluded that papaya leaf extract produced by a boiling method could be used as a substitute for synthetic antibiotic.  Key words: Papaya leaf extract, production efficiency, feed conversion, layer quail.

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Breast and thigh are the parts of duck carcass which are most commonly utilized and consumed by people.  These carcass parts consist of meat, skin, and bones.  This study was aimed at assessing the effects of the inclusion of torch ginger flower solution in commercial ration on live weight and percentages of carcass and its parts of male local ducks.  The study was conducted from June to August 2016 at Poultry Laboratory of Animal Science Study Program, Faculty of Agriculture, Djuanda University, Bogor.  Twenty-four male local ducks aged 2 weeks with average initial body weight of 450 ± 53.04 g were used.  A completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replicates was used.  Treatments consisted of commercial ration + 0% torch ginger flower solution (R0), commercial ration + 2.5% torch ginger flower solution (R1), commercial ration + 5.0% torch ginger flower solution (R2), and commercial ration + 7.5% torch ginger flower solution (R3).  Measurements were taken on the percentages of whole breast, breast meat, breast bones, whole thigh, thigh meat, and thigh bones.  Data were subjected to an analysis of variance and a Duncan test.  Results showed that treatments gave significant effect (P<0.05) on the percentage of thigh meat.  The inclusion of torch ginger flower solution in ration did not negatively affect carcass parts of male local ducks.  The inclusion of 7.5% torch ginger flower solution in commercial ration increased the percentage of whole breast.  It was also found that the inclusion of 5.0 and 7.5% torch ginger flower solution in commercial ration increased the percentage of thigh meat.Key words: torch ginger flower solution, male local duck, carcass parts

The effects of slow-release zinc-urea complexes (ZnU), urea-impregnated zeolite (UZ) and zinc-ureaimpregnated zeolite (ZnUZ) on the performance of yearling Bali bulls were assessed using 20 Bali bulls (145.3 ± 2.5 kg bodyweight (BW)), which were allocated to five treatments and four replications in a completely randomized design. The treatments were: Diets supplemented with no urea (NU) and with urea (U), ZnU, UZ and ZnUZ. The results of the in vivo study revealed that both ZnU and UZ might replace urea effectively by increasing feed intake. Moreover, substituting urea with ZnU, UZ or ZnUZ increased crude protein total tract apparent digestibility whereas ZnU or UZ replacing urea, improved fibre total tract apparent digestibility. Furthermore, inclusion of UZ in the diet improved live weight gain and feed efficiency in Bali bulls above that of the U and NU diets. Thus, the inclusion of ZnUZ in rice straw-based diets showed slow-release urea had positive impacts on feed intake and nutrient digestibility, and increased the efficiency of feed utilization in Bali bulls.Keywords: Apparent digestibility, feed intake, urea-impregnated zeolite, zinc