Urea treated maize straw for small-scale dairy systems in the highlands of Central Mexico

Abstract

Maize straw is the main roughage for dairy herds in campesino farms in central Mexico. The objective was to evaluate feeding milking cows on maize straw treated with 40 g/kg DM of urea (A) or untreated straw (B), and 3.0 kg/d of 18% CP concentrate. Twenty-four Holsteins in late lactation from 8 farmers were sorted in two groups: sequence A-B-A or B-A-B; periods were 28 days. Mean daily milk yield for the last two weeks per period, and live-weight and body-condition score every 14 days were used for analysis. Maize straw was ad libitum. Chemical analysis and in vitro digestibility were analysed by Student's t test, animal variables by a switch-back design. 'A' had 44.3 g/kg DM more CP and 106.5 g/kg DM higher in vitro digestibility than 'B' (710 g/kg DM +/- 0.75 'A' vs. 603.5 g/kg DM +/- 1.44 'B'). Despite higher digestibility and intake, there were no differences (P > 0.05) for milk yield, live-weight or body-condition score, although there were in straw intake (P < 0.05). Cows on 'A' ate 1.7 kg/cow/day more straw DM than on 'B'. Lack of response did not offset higher feeding costs although margins were high. Lack of response is attributed to short length of periods and late lactation of cows.

Rumen Fermentation and Performance of Lactating Dairy Cows Affected by Physical Forms and Urea Treatment of Rice Straw

“…Economic analysis of milk sales clearly demonstrated that the higher margin over feed was obtained by urea-treated rice straw fed groups compared with untreated rice straw (p<0.01) (Table 5). Similarly, García-Martínez et al (2009) reported that sale price of milk and profit was enhanced by urea treated maize straw.…”

“…Rice straw is abundantly available all year in large quantities in the region (Hue et al, 2008) and when urea treated (5%) rice straw can be used as the only source of roughage in the dry season (Wanapat et al, 2000). Urea treatment is an applicable technique for improving the quality of rice straw (Sanh et al, 2002), in terms of increasing protein content, nutrient digestibility, NH 3 -N concentration, VFA production (particularly propionic acid) and milk production (Hart and Wanapat, 1992; Djibrillou et al, 1998; García-Martínez et al, 2009; Wanapat et al, 2009b). Treatment of rice straw with 5% urea has been used in dairy farms but the cost is relatively high due to the increasing price of urea (Wanapat et al, 2009b).…”

Nutritive value of Tifton 85 hay ammoniated with urea

“…There are several methods that optimize the use of low quality forages (Hassan, Nisa, Shahzad, & Sarwar, 2011), such as chemical treatments using urea, which have been used with the aim of improving the nutritional characteristics of forage (Nguyen, Wanapat, Khejornsart, & Kongmun, 2012), allowing the use of a plant harvested at advanced stages of development for use in animal feeding. In addition to the increase in the digestibility and dry matter intake (Nisa, Sarwar, Shahzad, & Hassan, 2007), the crude protein content also increases due to non-protein nitrogen (García-Martínez, Albarrán-Portillo, Castelán-Ortega, Espinoza-Ortega, & Arriaga-Jordán, 2009), caused by ammonia on the structure of the cell wall of the hay (Morais et al, 2017). Forage quality, dose of urea applied, moisture content and treatment duration are the main factors affecting the ammoniation process (Ferreira & Zanine, 2013).…”

Feeding forage mixtures of alfalfa hay and maize stover optimizes growth performance and carcass characteristics of lambs

“…Maize fodder can be fed safely at all stages of animal growth without any danger (Garcia‐Martinez et al . ; Malisetty et al . ).…”

“…Alfalfa, which can be preserved as hay, haylage or silage, is a widely used forage crop in North America, Europe and elsewhere (Garcia‐Martinez et al . ; Aboagye et al . ).…”