Studies on the preparation and in vitro breakdown of urea-hemicellulose complex

Abstract

Urea is not efficiently utilized by ruminants mainly because of its more rapid (about 4 times) rate of hydrolysis than the corresponding uptake of ammonia by the rumen microbes (Bloomfield, Garner & Muhrer, 1960). A number of attempts have been made to slow down the release of ammonia either through the production of urease immunity (Sidhu, Jones & Tillman, 1968) or by complexing urea with starch (Deyoe et al. 1968) or with molasses (Chopra et al. 1974). The present communication reports the method of preparation and in vitro breakdown of urea-hemicellulose complex.