Synergistic Effect of Urea and Lime Treatment of Paddy Straw on In Sacco Digestibility and in vitro Gas Production Rate

Chopped paddy straw (0.5–1.5 cm) was treated with five levels of urea (0,2, 3, 4 and 5% w/w) and four levels of lime (0, 2, 4 and 6% w/w) in a 5x4 factorial arrangement to study the effect of treatments on cell wall constituents, in sacco DM and OM digestibilities and in vitro gas production. Cell wall constituents solubilised significantly (P<0.01) with increasing concentration of urea plus lime. The nylon bag dry matter digestibility (NBDMD) and nylon bag organic matter digestibility (NBOMD) increased with increasing concentrations of urea with lime. The NBDMD and NBOMD values varied from 41.00 to 70.76% in different treatment combinations. Similar trend was observed in total gas production during 24 h. The gas production values varied from 28.25 to 44.75 ml/0.5g/24h in different treatment combinations. Gas production ratesduring first twelve hours (Phase I) in treated paddy straw were higher than last twelve hours (Phase II). The effect of different levels of urea lime and their infractions were significant (P<0.01) on NBDMD NBOMD and total gas production. It is concluded that the in sacco DM and OM digestibilities and in vitro gas production increased due to synergistic effect of both urea and lime.