Effect of supplementation of molasses/urea blocks and graded levels of concentrate on growth performance of grazing Arsi bulls

Thirty grazing Arsi bulls (24m, 130kg) were used in a 120 day trial to eval uate the effect of Molasses/urea bloch (MUB) with graded levels of concentr ate supplementation on growth performance. These were divided into five gro ups and randomly allocated to five treatments in a completely randomized de sign. Animals on treatment 1 (T-1) were grazed for 8 hours, whereas those i n T-2, T-3, T-4 and T-5 were grazed for 8h and supplemented with ad lib MUB plus 0, 0.5, 1 and 2kg concentrate/head/day, respectively. Daily MUB and c oncentrate intakes and initial and final body weights were recorded. Growth rate of bulls were higher (P<0.05) in MUB supplemented than un-supplemente d groups. Inclusion of concentrate with MUB further improved the growth rat e of the bulls while MUB intake was reduced (P<0.05). Cost of supplement pe r unit of gain was lower (P<0.05) in T-4 than in the rest of the treatment groups. It was concluded that MUB with 1kg concentrate supplementation is a n economical and simple way of improving the growth performance of Arsi bul ls grazing in the mid rift valley of Ethiopia.