Response of goat fed ammoniated local feed and urea palm sugar block

Abstract

Forages, such as corn straw and B. mutica grass as a single feed of livestock, only meet the basic needs of livestock. Low quality forage results in inadequate mineral requirements in the body of livestock, causing mineral deficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to afford an additional feed or supplements as a complement. Local feed in the form of B. mutica and corn straw are forages available throughout the year in large enough quantities; however, they have several limitations such as low nutritional and biological value. Through ammoniating technology, it is expected that these forages can improve their quality. Urea Palm Sugar Block (UPSB) is a modified feed mixture, consisting of several feed ingredients such as palm sugar, urea, rice bran, oil cake, minerals and salt, which are processed and pressed into blocks. Palm sugar is used in animal feed as a Readily Available Carbohydrate (RAC), functioning as a carbon skeleton, while urea serves as a source of non-protein nitrogen (NPN) for rumen microbial protein synthesis. The purpose of this research is to study the response of goats fed ammoniated local feed and UPSB. The data obtained were analyzed using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 4 treatments and 8 replications. The parameters observed were the consumption of dry matter intake, daily weight gain and blood metabolic status. The results show that the R3 treatment provided an optimal response of goat fed by ammoniated local feed and UPSB.