Abstract:
This study characterized wheat straw feeding practices in smallholder farms using cross sectional survey and the results informed
the design of an experiment to improve the nutritive value ofwheat straw with urea and yeast culture treatment.Three diets tested in
49 days’ feeding trialwere farmers’ rainy season feeding practice (FP), addition of urea towheat strawat the time of feeding (USWS),
and 14 days’ incubation of straw with urea (UTWS). Yeast culture (15 g/day) was mixed with commercial dairy meal at the point
of feeding. Survey data identified farmers’ strategies in utilizing crop residues of which most important were improving storage
facility (77.6%), adding molasses (54.5%), and buying a shredding machine (45.1%). On-farm feeding trial showed that intake was
higher for UTWS than (𝑝 < 0.05) for USWS while milk yield was higher with FP than (𝑝 < 0.005) with UTWS or USWS but not
different (𝑝 ≥ 0.05) between UTWS and USWS. Results imply that farmers feeding practices of crop residues may be improved for
dairy cows’ feeding and therefore UTWS could be used to supportmaintenance and milk production during dry season. Improving
farmers feed storage facilities and training on incubation of wheat straw for dairy cattle feeding were recommended.
