urea & other npn sources

USE OF UREA AND OTHER NPN SOURCES IN ANIMAL FEEDING

INTRODUCTION There is shortage of feed resources for live stock in

Pakistan and AJ &K (Azad Jammu and Kashmir).

Particularly in & Balochistan NWFP provinces and AJ&K.

In these areas , dry roughages are used throughout

the year with exception of June to September.

SHORTAGE OF LIVE STOCK FEED IN PAKISTAN

Fodder --------------- 40% Roughages ---------- 20% Concentrates -------- 80%

Reasons: Inadequate water resources and reservoirs Harsh weather conditions Overpopulation

Roughages produced are of coarse quality.

These roughages are major part of livestock feed particularly in winter.

These can not meet even the maintenance requirement of live stock.

Bcause:Coarse roughages or Straws are of low nutritive quality and are characterized by:

-High content of lignified cellulose

-Low level of nitrogen content

-Low level of minerals.

- it does not adequately satisfy microbial growth requirement of ruminal flora.

Besides this, these are low in:

- voluntary intake-CP contents -Digestibility

Because these roughages are of low nutritive value, they demand treatments to improve the nutritive value.

There are various techniques to improve the nutritive value of the feed stuffs categorized as:

Mechanical

Chemical

Biochemical methods

NON-PROTEIN NITROGEN (NPN) SOURCES

Feed stuffs which contain nitrogen in the form of other than protein or peptides are termed as non-protein nitrogen sources.

There are various sources of NPN used in live stock feeding but two sources are mainly used:

Urea

Ammonia

SOME NPN SOURCES USED IN ANIMAL FEEDING

Nitrogen % Protein equivalent %

UreaAmmonium acetate Ammonium bicarbonateAmmonium carbamateAmmonium lactatebiurete

42-451818361335

262-28111211222581219

Ref. G.C. Banerjee

UREA AS AN NPN SOURCE History:

The concept of increasing the nitrogen content and nutritive value of low-protein roughages including cereal straw by means of urea and ammonia treatment is more than a century old and has been researched and tested in the developed world during the past 50 years.

Much of the early work on straw treatment in developing countries concentrated on small scale research projects with little or no on-farm application.

Small scale research, starting in the 1970's, in Bangladesh (Dolberg et al 1981) and to some extent in other countries including Pakistan.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir urea treatment was introduced during 1994-95 under a project supervised by UNDP.

UREA IN ANIMAL FEEDING Treating with urea is based upon its transformation

into ammonia. In order for the treatment to succeed, most of the urea must first be hydrolyzed into ammonia and then this must diffuse correctly so fixing itself to the forage and modifying it chemically

Untreated straws having 2-4 % crude protein initially have, after treatment, "potential" crude protein levels of 7-12 % which is sufficient for maintenance of live weights.

HOW UREA IS UTILIZED BY RUMINANTS?

ureaseUrea NH3 +CO2

from microbes enzymes

Carbohydrates VFA + Keto acids form rumen microbes

enzymeAmmonia + Keto acids amino acids

from microbes

enzymesAmino acids microbial protein

from microbes

enzymes in abomasum and Microbial protein free amino acids

small intestine

Free amino acids are absorbed from small intestine

METHODS OF UREA FEEDING

Urea can be fed by different methods in different systems with the consideration given to the following factors:

Protein need of the animal Availability and cost of urea Availability of the energy sources Amount of plant protein being used Cost of processing and mixing

Urea can be fed to ruminants by mixing in :

Concentrates Liquid supplements Silage Dry roughages In salt blocks

1. UREA IN CONCENTRATES

Not employed more than 3% of the total concentrate feed or 1% in total dry matter of the ration.

The maximum safe limit is 136 gm of urea per animal over 360 kg body wt.

91 gm for animals between 225-360kg. 45 gm for those between135-225kg. For calves below 6 months of age urea is not fed in any

form. Proper mixing is necessary to avoid the toxicity. Urea should not be mixed with soybean as it contain

urease.

2. UREA IN LIQUIDS This is homogenous mixture of urea with molasses along

with minerals and vitamins.

It is prepared by dissolving 2.5 parts of urea in equal amount of water. The mixture is mixed with vitamin mixture, 25 gm per 100 kg of liquid feed.

1 part common salt + 2 parts mineral mixture are sprinkled over 92 parts of sugarcane molasses.

It is important to provide the animals ad lib water all the time when feeding with urea treated molasses

3. UREA MIXED IN SILAGE

If chopped whole maize plant is being ensiled at 35% to 40% dry matter, urea is then added at a level of 0.5% of wet material.

This will increase the CP % on dry matter basis up to 5point.

4.UREA IN SALT BLOCKS

Simple way of supplying protein precursors.

Numerous combinations

Contains molasses, urea, minerals like Ca, P, F, Co, Mn, Cu, salt with small amount of oil cakes.

Components of Urea Molasses Blocks

Ingredients Range (%)

Best use level (%)

Molasses 35-40 40Urea 5-13 <10Common salt 2-8 4Di Calcium phosphate

1-4 2

Calcium sulphate (Cement)

1-3 2

Calcium oxide (Choona)

5-10 5

Components of Urea Molasses Blocks

Ingredients Range (%)

Best use level (%)

Oil seed meals 8-12 10

Bran / Rice polishing 15-25 20

Drugs ( Parasitic controls, manipulation of rumen etc)

- According to recommendation of manufacturer

Mixing of Ingredients Sequence for proper Mixing of ingredients

i. Molasses

ii. Urea

i. Salt

ii. Lime and cement

iii. Bran and oil seed meals

Mechanical Methods of ingredients Mixing

Manual Moulding

Mechanical Moulding

Urea molasses blocks

Urea molasses blocks under shade after removal from moulds

5. UREA TREATMENT OF Straws

Urea treatment of the dry roughages enhanced the palatability and nutritive value.

partially solved the crisis of quality dry roughages in the country.

Material Required: Urea

Clean water

Sprayer or gardener's sprinkler

Container for making solution

Plastic sheets (mud, silos, pits, wooden boxes etc. can be used)

Household utensils can be used for urea treatment

Demonstration for urea treatment in AJ&K

Method: Urea is dissolved in water Straw is spread so that most of the straw can be

soaked. Urea solution is sprinkled on the straw layer. After this second layer of straw is spreaded and

urea solution is sprinkled. Stacks are made by this method. Covered by plastic sheet and mud from all sides

making it air tight.

Women learning Urea treatment

Another technique of urea treatment

Urea treatment in pit

A silo made by wood and plated mat for urea treatment

Silo made for urea treatment from seko grass in Nigeria

Paniers and shelters used for urea treatment

Silo prepared for urea treatment

A stack of rice straw after Urea treatment in AJ &K

Temperature and Duration:

Should be for 3-4 weeks for completion of the physiochemical reaction if the ambient temperature is between20-30°C

If the temperature is more than 30°C then it requires not less than one week.

Final Moisture of treated straw should be between 30-50%.

Urea treated and untreated dry roughages in AJ and K

Formula: suggested by FAO animal production is

5kg of urea

30 liter water

100kg dry roughages

National Dairy Research Institute in India has suggested the following formula:

Urea = 4kg

Water = 50 liters

Straw = 100 kg

Precautions against fungal spoilage:

Clean water

Uniform sprinkling of urea solution

Thoroughly compact stacks

Stacks should be properly covered form all sides.

Comparative values of untreated and urea treated straw

CP% DCP% TDN%

Untreated straw

2-4 Zero 38-40

Urea Treated straw

7-12 4-5 48-50

G.C. Banerjee

Rate of feeding:

FOR DRY ANIMALS: 5-6 Kg, sufficient to meet the requirements of

protein and energy.

FOR MILK YIELDING ANIMALS: 4-5 kg, can either reduce concentrate by half

to 1kg. Or increase milk yeild by 1 to one and half kg.

Good quality rice straw after urea treatment

Advantages: It increase

the palatability and Nutritive value i.e. increases Protein ,TDN, and

DCP. Convert the fodder of low quality in valuable

one. Easy and can be performed any where. Cheaper No specific equipments are required

DISADVANTAGES:

Time consuming Laborious Some time urea toxicity It cold climate it takes a long time

USE OF AMONIA IN DAIRY FEEDING Ammonia (NH3) is a by product from industrial

“cracking” of hydrocarbons.

It is used as a raw material in the fertilizer industry and also applied directly as a fertilizer.

It is a gas at normal atmospheric pressure.

It is easy to liquefy and readily dissolves in water.

Anhydrous ammonia is used to improve the quality roughages.

It is done by injecting the straw with anhydrous ammonia by using a simple equipment.

This requires the industrial produced ammonia with proper distribution net work.

This problem makes it difficult to treat the straw with ammonia and makes it less applicable in our circumstances.

Ammonia treatment of a covered stach

Refilling of the ammnia supplying tank

Stacks of rice straw prepared for ammonia treatment

Rate of application:

economic application rate for ammonia (either anhydrous or aqueous) certainly lies in the range of 2.5 to 3.5 kg per 100 kg DM of straw.

below an ambient temperature of 17°C, treatment should extend beyond 4 weeks.

Temperature And Duration Required

< 5°C >8 weeks

5–15°C 4 to 8 weeks

15–30°C 1 to 4 weeks

>30°C <1 week

Sundstol et als, 1978

Moisture Content:

the dry matter content of forages to be treated should lie in the range of 60 to 85 %.

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