Optimizing the urea and molasses concentration to enhance the nutritive and feeding value of treated rice straw

Optimizing the urea and molasses concentration to enhance the nutritive and feeding value of treated rice straw | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Optimizing the urea and molasses concentration to enhance the nutritive and feeding value of treated rice straw Charity I. Castillo This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5275190/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract This study sought to optimize the urea and molasses concentrations and rice straw preparation to improve the nutritional value and quality of silage for ruminants. It consisted of four (4) parts and was conducted sequentially: 1) screening and characterization, 2) optimization using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), 3) numerical optimization, and 4) experimental validation. Three (3) factors were considered for the optimization protocol: 1) urea concentration ranging from 1% to 6%; 2) molasses concentration from 1% to 8%; and (3) rice straw preparations as un-chopped and chopped. The results indicated that varying molasses concentration from 1% to 8% did not significantly affect dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) degradability. Additionally, rice straw preparation showed no significant effect on all responses at a low urea concentration (1%). However, at a high urea concentration (6%), chopped rice straw resulted in significantly higher values for all responses than un-chopped rice straw. The optimized conditions were found to be 4.39% urea concentration for chopped and 3.61% for un-chopped rice straw. Using chopped rice straw at the optimized urea concentration improved DM, CP, and organic matter (OM) degradability compared to un-chopped rice straw. Thus, the utilization of optimized levels of urea combined with molasses ranging from 1% to 8% led to higher-quality rice straw silage. Animal Science rice straw urea molasses optimization silage Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5275190","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":466727666,"identity":"b4e901c8-ca00-4fc0-bbf1-3a41f483b8e0","order_by":0,"name":"Charity I. 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It consisted of four (4) parts and was conducted sequentially: 1) screening and characterization, 2) optimization using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), 3) numerical optimization, and 4) experimental validation. Three (3) factors were considered for the optimization protocol: 1) urea concentration ranging from 1% to 6%; 2) molasses concentration from 1% to 8%; and (3) rice straw preparations as un-chopped and chopped. The results indicated that varying molasses concentration from 1% to 8% did not significantly affect dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) degradability. Additionally, rice straw preparation showed no significant effect on all responses at a low urea concentration (1%). However, at a high urea concentration (6%), chopped rice straw resulted in significantly higher values for all responses than un-chopped rice straw. The optimized conditions were found to be 4.39% urea concentration for chopped and 3.61% for un-chopped rice straw. Using chopped rice straw at the optimized urea concentration improved DM, CP, and organic matter (OM) degradability compared to un-chopped rice straw. 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