Improvement of nutritive value of cassava pulp and in vitro fermentation and microbial population by urea and molasses supplementation

This study aimed to investigate the effect of urea (U) and molasses (M) supplement on the nutritive value of cassava pulp and in vitro gas fermentation. The ensiling study was randomly assigned according to a 4 × 4 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. The first factor was U supplementation at U0, U2, U4, and U6% and the second was M supplementation at M0, M2, M4, and M6% of dry matter, respectively. After 14 days of ensiling, treated cassava pulp was sampled for chemical composition analysis and subsequently used to study in vitro fermentation. The results revealed that increasing U supplement levels could increase crude protein and decrease fibre contents of treated cassava pulp (P < .05). Increasing U and M supplement levels increased gas production and in vitro true digestibility (P < .05). Total bacteria, Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus flavefaciens were increased in cassava pulp treated with U and M supplemented groups (P < .05). Based on this experiment, it could be concluded that U4 and M4% supplement could improve the nutritive value of treated cassava pulp and increase gas production, in vitro digestibility, and the growth of dominant cellulolytic bacterial population. However, further research should be conducted on the use of treated cassava pulp in ruminant feeding