INFLUENCE OF UREA, FORMIC-ACID AND COMMON SALT ON PRESERVATION AND IN-SITU RUMEN DEGRADABILITY OF MAIZE FODDER AT DOUGH STAGE

Chaffed green maize fodder (at soft dough stage) was preserved in poly thene bags for 60 days after adding 3 chemicals, viz. urea, formic aci d and common salt each at 3 levels. The treatment levels were; urea, 0 (U-0), 0.25 (U-1) and 0.5% (U-2), formic acid 0 (F-0, 0.3 (F-1) and 0 .4% (F-2), common salt 0 (S-0), 0.50 (S-1) and 1% (S-2). All 27 treatm ent combinations were tested for their efficacy in preserving maize fo dder. Addition of urea and common salt to the treatment combinations r educed the DM loss by 23.30 and 19.30% respectively. Similarly, additi on of urea to other treatment combinations reduced OM loss by 26.2%. T he total-N, water-soluble-N, water-insoluble-N and NH3 contents increa sed by addition of urea. Lactic acid and TVFA concentrations were lowe st (6.87, 7.39%) with urea-salt treatment combinations restricting the m significantly (P<0.05) in presence of salt. DM and OM degradabilitie s increased when urea and common salt were used as preservative. The i nvestigation revealed that maize fodder (dough stage) can be preserved by using combination of urea (0.25 to 0.5%) and salt (0.5 to 1.0%) on fresh basis.