Molasses Urea Blocks as Supplementary Feed Resource for Ruminants in Botswana

Abstract

The aims of this study were to produce low cost, high quality feed supplement for improving the performance of ruminants, and to determine the nutrients composition of the molasses urea blocks (MUB). In study 1 the same level of molasses (45%) and urea (15%) were used in three treatments of blocks, except for the fourth treatment (control) where molasses and urea were not included. Chemical analyses showed that the blocks with molasses and urea had the highest nutritional composition and all the blocks had various amounts of both major and trace elements. In study 2, MUB were used for supplementing Tswana sheep in a feeding trial that lasted 62 days. The sheep were divided into two groups of eight each, the control was given 100% veldt grass while the treatment group was given veldt grass plus MUB as supplement. The MUB increased growth rate of the supplemented Tswana sheep by 94%.