Effect of urea-molasses liquid on the nutritive value of barley crop stubble and sheep performance

This experiment was conducted to improve the nutritive value of barley stubble for two consecutive years. After harvesting crop, at first year, a completely randomized design, with a 3 × 3 factorial experiment was conducted in which 27 plots were divided into nine treatments. The treatments including zero, 2.5 and five percent urea each with zero, three and six percent molasses were mixed with water and sprayed on the stubble (three plots per treatment). During five periods, all plots were sampled before and after spraying with 10 days intervals for the chemical analyses. The crude protein (CP) was increased but crude fiber (CF) decreased in urea-molasses treatments (P< 0.05). The Ash content was increased (P< 0.05) only in the treatments contained 6 percent molasses. At the second year, after harvesting the barley crop, four hectares of stubble was divided in four parts and sprayed with four treatments of urea-molasses liquor including: 1) 2.5 percent urea, 2) 2.5 percent urea +3 percent molasses, 3) 5 percent urea, 4) 5 percent urea +3 percent molasses. Forty eight Shal ewes were divided among the treatments and grazed for 50 days. All ewes showed body weight gain, during the experiment but the body weight changes were not different between the treatments. As a result of twining, the lambing rate was increased about 25 percent for the animals received five percent urea +3 percent molasses comparing to the other treatments.