Rumen Fermentation Pattern as Affected by Different Methods of Urea Feeding with Special Reference to Surface Licking

Three different methods of feeding urea: T₁, concentrate mixture containing 1.5% urea; T₂, ad lib. urea -molasses- liquid supplement (UMLS); T₃, ad lib uromin block lick were adopted for feeding to 3 rumen fistulated mule buffaloes in a 3x3 latin square method. In T₁, 2.5 kg concentrate mixture, whereas in T₂ and T₃ only one kg concentrate mixture was offered, besides 5 kg wheat straw and a synthetic source of vitamins A and D to each animal. The results revealed that total-N, urea-N and TVFA levels were not signiricantly different amongst three groups; whereas NH₃-N level was significantly (P<0.05) higher in T₁ as compared to that in T₂ and T₃. TCA-N was significantly (P<0.05) higher in T₂ and T₃ as compared to T₁. It was inferred that both UMLS and uromin block lick produced ammonia at a slower rate and enhanced the TCA-N over control diet in buffaloes.