Four adult rumen fistulated male bufTaloes 1 -2 yrs; 176-212 kg) were used in a 4 x 4 latin square design and fed complete diets based on Uromol premix and wheat straw treated with either 3% NaOH (D1) or 5 % NaOH (D2) or ruomol premix with ricc bran and wheat ttraw treated with either 3 % NaOH (D3) or 5 % NaOH (D4) for 4wks. The digestibility of various nutrients, N retention, rumen parameters, plasma protein were better in D3 as sompared to other diets. The use of wheat straw treated with 5 % NaOH in complete diets ssemed to have deleterious effect on the health of animals as indicated by higher plasma urea level as compared to that when wheat straw treated with 3% NaOH was used. The results indicated that uromol-bran-premix could be used as N supplement in 3% NaOH treated wheat straw based complete diet formulation for ruminants.
