Effect of urea treated rice straw and supplementing with Leucaena laucocephala and Gliricida sepium on chemical composition and growth performance of goats

Rice straw is the most abundant wasted feed resource in rice producing countries, however, the low nutritive value hampered its use as quality feed for ruminants. One way of improving its quality is through fermentation with urea. Urea treated rice straw increased crude protein, digestibility, and reducing NDF and ADF contents of rice straw. Feeding fermented urea treated rice straw increased dry matter intake and growth by goats. The best performance of goats was obtained when urea treated rice straw was supplemented with Gliricidia or Leucaena