Abstract

In tropical zones of the world, ruminants depend on grazing on natural pastures usually during summer months when these pastures have abundant biomass or these animals are fed with cut grass and crop residues. Paddy straw is a major agro-residue fed to ruminants in India. Rice straw is a readily available, practical, and cheap source of fodder for feeding ruminants such as buffaloes, cattle, goats, and sheep. Livestock producers commonly haul and stack rice straw from their rice farm, which then forms reserved feed for their animals during lean months or when good-quality roughages are scarce. The feeding of pure rice straw to ruminants during the stages of fast growth and early lactation has been shown to affect both body condition score and animal performance. Feeding only rice straw does not provide enough nutrients to the ruminants even for maintenance due to the low nutritive value of this highly lignified material containing high concentration of anti-nutrition factors like lignin, silicates and oxalates. Despite the improvements of crop residues through various processing methods such as physical and chemical, the efficient utilization to desirable extent is still awaited. So, utilization of paddy straw in association with concept of complete feed along with biological agents is need of the hour to maximize advantage from given feeds in animal production systems. the major agro-residues in terms of volumes generated in India were rice straw, rice husk, wheat straw, sugarcane tops.

• 1.   Aquino, D. L., Fujihara, T., Baltazar, H., & Santos, J. (2016).Community-based S & T farm project on the preparation and utilization of urea-treated rice straw (UTRS) as fodder for dairy buffaloes. Proceedings of PCC R&D Review of Completed and On-going Research Projects, July 27–29.
• 2.   Baile, C. A., & Forbes, J. M. (1974). Control of feed intake and regulation of energy balance in ruminants. Physiological Reviews, 54, 160–214.
• 3.   Beauchemin, K. A., Kreuzer, M., O’Mara, F., & McAllister, T. A. (2008). Nutritional management for enteric methane abatement: A review. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 48, 21–27.
• 4.   Chenost, M., & Kayouli, C. (1997). Roughage utilisation in warm climates. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 135, Rome.
• 5.   Conrad, H. R. (1966). Physiological and physical factors limiting feed intake. Journal of Animal Science, 25, 227–235.
• 6.   Devendra, C. (1997). Crop residues for feeding animals in Asia: Technology development and adoption in crop/livestock systems. In C. Renard (Ed.), Crop Residues in Sustainable Mixed Crop/Livestock Farming Systems (pp. 241–267). CAB International.
• 7.   Devendra, C., & Thomas, D. (2002). Cropanimal interactions in mixed farming systems in Asia. Agricultural Systems, 71, 27–40.
• 8.   Dias Da Silva, A. A., & Sundstøl, F. (1986). Urea as a source of ammonia for improving the nutritive value of wheat straw. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 14, 67–79.
• 9.   Doyle, P. T., Devendra, C., & Pearce, G. R. (1986). Rice straw as feed for ruminants. International Development Programme, Canberra.
• 10.   Dryden, G. M., & Kempton, T. J. (1983). Digestion of organic matter and nitrogen in ammoniated barley straw. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 10, 65–75.
• 11.   Fahmy, S. T. M., & Sundstøl, F. (1984). Effect of urea and protein supplementation on digestibility of barley straw. Zeitschrift für Tierphysiologie Tierernährung und Futtermittelkunde, 52, 118–128.
• 12.   Ibrahim, M. N. M., Wijeratne, A. M. U., & Costa, M. J. I. (1984). Sources of urease for reducing treatment time of straw with urea. In Utilisation of Fibrous Agricultural Residues as Animal Feeds (pp. 145–155). University of Melbourne.
• 13.   Jouany, J. P. (1996). Effect of rumen protozoa on nitrogen utilization by ruminants. Journal of Nutrition, 126, 1335S–1346S.
• 14.   Latham, E. A., Anderson, R. C., Pinchak, W. E., & Nisbet, D. J. (2016). Alterations to the rumen ecosystem by nitrate and nitrocompounds. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7, 228. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00228
• 15.   McAllister, T. A., Cheng, K. J., Okine, E. K., & Mathison, G. W. (1996). Methane production in ruminants. Canadian Journal of Animal Science, 76, 231–243.
• 16.   Mgheni, D. M., Khimambo, A. E., Sundstøl, F., & Madsen, J. (1993). Effect of urea treatment on rice straw utilization in goats. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 44, 209–220.
• 17.   Mira, J. J. F., Kay, M., & Hunter, E. (1983). Treatment of barley straw with urea or ammonia for cattle. Animal Production, 36, 271–277.
• 18.   Murray, R. J., McAllan, A. B., & Smith, R. H. (1990). Effect of nitrogen source on rumen microbial growth. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 31, 55–64.
• 19.   Orskov, E. R., Tait, C. A. G., & Reid, G. W. (1981). Utilization of treated barley straw for dairy heifers. Animal Production, 32, 388.
• 20.   Perdok, H. B., et al. (1984). Production responses of ruminants fed treated paddy straw. In Utilisation of Fibrous Agricultural Residues as Animal Feeds (pp. 213–230). University of Melbourne.
• 21.   Phang, O. C., & Vadiveloo, J. (1992). Feeding value of rice straw in goats. Small Ruminant Research, 6, 295–301.
• 22.   Sarnklong, C., Cone, J. W., Pellikaan, W., & Hendriks, W. H. (2010). Rice straw utilization and treatment methods. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, 23, 680–692.
• 23.   Sharma, D. D., Rangnekar, D. V., & Singh, M. (1995). Treatment of fibrous crop residues. In Review on Fibrous Crop Residues (pp. 263–276). NDRI, India.
• 24.   Theander, O., & Aman, P. (1984). Anatomical and chemical characteristics of straw. In F. Sundstøl & E. Owen (Eds.), Straw and Other Fibrous By-products as Feed (pp. 45– 78). Umunna, N. N., Osuji, P. O., Khalili, H., Nsahlai, I. V., & Crosses, S. (1995). Feeding value of forage systems for beef production. Animal Science, 61, 35–45.
• 25.   Vadiveloo, J. (2000). Nutritional properties of rice straw components. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 83, 57–65.
• 26.   Veira, D. M., Ivan, M., & Jui, P. Y. (1984). Effect of protozoa on amino acid flow in sheep. Canadian Journal of Animal Science, 64, 22–23.
• 27.   Wanapat, M., Sommart, K., & Saardrak, K. (1996). Cottonseed meal supplementation in dairy cattle. Livestock Research for Rural Development, 8(3). 22-25.
• 28.   Warly, L., Matsui, T., Harumoto, T., & Fujihara, T. (1992). Utilization of rice straw in sheep. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, 5, 695–698.
• 29.   Zhang, X., Wang, M., Wang, R., Ma, Z., Long, D., & Mao, H. (2018). Urea plus nitrate pretreatment improves straw degradation and reduces methane. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 98, 5205–5211. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.9043

Data Sharing Statement

Funding