Effect of molasses level on intake and in vivo digestibility of rice straw treated with urea in West African Dwarf goat (Capra hircus)

The evaluation of the effect of molasses level on the ingestion and in vivo digestibility of rice straw treated with 5% urea was carried out at the University of Dschang. The rations were distributed in a completely Randomized design comprising three groups of three West African dwarf goats ages about 12 months with a comparable average weight. These animals were housed individually in the digestibility cages. The adaptation and data collection periods were 8 and 6 days respectively. Each goat received 800 g of rice straw treated with 5% urea per day with inclusion of 0% molasses (RS5 + M0) for group 1; 5% molasses (RS5 + M5) for group 2 and 10% molasses for group 3 (RS5 + M10). A sample of 100 g of each ration, feces and 10 ml of urine was collected every morning for chemical analysis and digestibility assessment. The results of this study show that the addition of molasses enhances the digestibility of the organic matter and the digestible crud protein of the rice straw treated with 5% urea. DM, OM and NDF intake of the RS5 + M0 ration (375, 343.8 and 298 g/d) was higher than that of RS5 + M5 (322.9, 295, 3 and 246.1 g/d) and RS5 + M10 (344.5, 314.8 and 256.6 g/d). The highest apparent dry matter (55.8%), organic matter (58.4%) and NDF (65.2%) digestibility were obtained with RS5 + M5 ration. The apparent nitrogen digestibility of the RS5 + M5 ration was significantly higher (P˂0.05) than that of the RS5 + M0 ration and comparable to that of the RS5 + M10 ration. These results show that the inclusion of molasses in rice straw treated with 5% urea does not significantly affect the ingestion and digestibility of DM, OM and NDF, but significantly improves digestibility of nitrogen.

Keywords: Digestibility, Intake, Molasses, Rice straw, West African Dwarf Goat.