Addition of molasses, but not of urea, increased the intake of untreated straw DM (Table 4).
Addition of molasses had no effect on DM intake when the straw was treated with urea and lime.
The sheep lost live weight on untreated rice straw or untreated straw supplemented with molasses (Figure 1).
They maintained weight on the straw supplemented with urea and lime.
Growth rates were improved when the rice straw was supplemented with urea plus molasses (25 g/day) and was highest for urea-treated rice straw plus molasses (37 g/day).
Straw treated with urea/lime supported a growth rate of 15 g/day.
The best feed conversion was with urea-treated straw supplemented with molasses.