Voluntary feed intake and digestibility of corn ensiled with cattle manure or urea in Baluchi sheep

Twenty-five Baluchi castrated lambs were used in a completely randomized design to measure voluntary feed intake and digestibility of corn silage alone (control), corn ensiled with 0.7 and 1.4% urea, and corn ensiled with 20 and 40% dairy cattle manure. Experiment duration was 28 days and contains three stages of adaptation, voluntary feed intake measurement, and digestibility trial. There were significant difference (P<0.05) among pH and chemical composition of different treatments. The highest percentage of natural detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), ash and pH were observed on corn silage ensiled with 40% cattle manure. The results of voluntary feed intake showed that difference among treatments were significant (P<0.05). Among treatments, corn silage treated with 1.4% urea had the highest and corn silage ensiled with 20% dairy cattle manure had the lowest voluntary feed intake. The results also showed that digestibility of all nutrients except ether extract were significant among treatments (P<0.05). Digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, crude fiber, NDF and total digestible nutrient were the highest on feed containing corn silage ensiled with 1.4% urea; whilst the feed containing cattle manure had the lowest nutrient digestibility. Results showed that adding urea to corn silage, caused an increase in dry matter digestibility and voluntary feed intake. Adding cow manure increased the amount of crude protein but reduced feed intake and digestibility of nutrients.