Three experiments were conducted at the Dairy Farm,
Department of Animal Sciences , Universiti Pertanian Malaysia ,
Serdang , using four cross-bred dairy bulls , Jersey O X Local
Indian Dairy Q. The main objective o f the study was to evaluate
the effects of nitrogen fertilization and supplementation with
urea and leucaena on the nutritive value and utilization of
Setaria sphacelata var . splendida in cattle . The indices measured
included rumen degradability , in vivo digestibility , feed intake
and the concentration of ammonia-N in the rumen liqour . In the
balance studies , nitrogen intake and nitrogen balance were
determined .
The results o f Experiment I showed that the yields o f dry
matter and nitrogen of the fertilize d were higher than those of the unfertilized forages , but the response ( kg per kg nitrogen
applied) in both dry matter and nitrogen was decreasing with
increasing nitrogen fertilization . The highest response in dry
matter was recorded at 26 . 6 kg/kg N applied; while that for crude
protein was 4 . 0 kg/kg N applied . The highest nitrogen recovery
was found to be 64 . 2 kg N / 100 kg applied . These were achieved at
the fertilization rate o f 250 kg N/ha per year
