Feed Intervention 
 
 TechSheet 3 
 
 
Feed intervention >> Improvements and feeding of crop residues and other basal feeds > Chemical   
treatment 
Urea treatment  
 
 Description   
 Urea treatment of low quality fibrous crop residues such as 
straws, sugarcane bagasse and hulls improves feed intake of 
these feeds. Ammonia, released from the urea, weakens the 
lignified outer wall and increases the digestibility of the 
straw. It also provides a source of supplementary non-protein 
nitrogen.  
 For 100kg of dry straw, dilute 4kg of urea in 30-40 litres of 
 water and sprinkle over the dry straw, compress the straw 
Pit lined with Enset leaves 
 and then seal the straw with plastic. This is commonly done 
in a plastic-lined pit, a simple concrete box or in plastic bags. 
Leave the straw covered for 30-45 days (30 days for hot 
weather; 45 days for cold weather). Then remove the cover 
and leave straw for at least 7 days to get rid of the ammonia 
smell before feeding.  
Key benefits s  
 Provides supplementary non-protein nitrogen and increases 
 feed intake of low-quality fibrous feed by 10-15% and a 
Packing treated straw in a pit lined with similar improvement in growth or productivity.   
heavy plastic. 
  While the benefit of urea treatment is relatively small it can 
be significant in situations where feed quality is marginal for 
growth.  
Key limitations1  
 Not easily adopted by smallholder farmers.  
 For smallholders the method must be simple and practical 
without expensive construction of silos. Also, supplies such as 
urea and plastic need to be available locally at reasonable 
prices. 
 Danger of urea toxicity if too much urea is used. 
 Most suitable for areas where there is excess straw available 
on farms which would be wasted without urea treatment. 
Conversely, urea treatment may be less easily adopted in 
areas where straw availability is limited and animals will 
consume all of the available feed with or without urea 
treatment. 
  
 
Packing treated straw in a plastic bag. 
TechFit is a tool to prioritize and select animal feed interventions. It was developed by ILRI under the leadership of Alan Duncan. It 
has been further refined and developed with inputs from many individuals in and beyond CGIAR. This is one of a series of feed 
intervention ‘TechSheets’ developed alongside the TechFit tool to provide summarized information on different interventions 
included in the tool. Werner Stür led the development of the TechSheets. This sheet was prepared by Jane Wamatu (ICARDA). 
TechFit is supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish. ilri.org/techfit 
 
Where does this intervention fit? 
 
Potential to overcome feed limitations Score 
 Feed scarcity during dry season : none 
 Feed scarcity during cropping season : none 
 Low feed availability : none 
 Poor feed quality : medium 
 
Applicability to livestock Score 
Cattle/buffalo   Breeding (cow-calf) : medium 
  Fattening : high 
  Dairy :  high 
 
Treated straw (left) and untreated straw Sheep/goats  Breeding : medium 
(right) 
   Fattening : medium 
Pigs  Breeding (sow-piglets) : n/a* 
  Fattening : n/a 
 
Applicability to farming system Score 
 Pastoral (extensive grazing systems) : none 
 Agro-pastoral/extensive mixed systems : low 
 Intensive mixed crop-livestock system : medium 
  Landless livestock producers : low 
Stored rice straw for cattle feeding, 
Cambodia.  
 
 Requirement for resources Score  
  Land : none 
 
  Water : medium 
Requirement  Labour : very high 
for  Cash/credit : high 
 Access to inputs : high 
 Knowledge/skills : high 
* n/a = not applicable 
More information:  
 
 Urea treatment: www.fao.org/docrep/003/w4988e/w4988e04.htm 
 Urea-ammonia treatment of low quality roughages in Ethiopia:  www.esgpip.org/PDF/Technical%20bulletin%20No2.html 
 
                          
 
 
 
   
This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.                                                 June 2015