Effect of supplemental dietary slow-release urea on growth performance and physiological status of dairy heifers

We examined the effect of supplemental dietary slow-release urea on the growth performance and physiological status of 16 dairy Holstein heifers (10 months of age, 322 ± 10 kg). The heifers were offered a formulated isocaloric and isonitrogenous 70:30 roughage : concentrate ration and were assigned randomly to one of four levels of slow-release urea supplementation (0% [U₀ ], 1% [U₁ ], 1.5% [U_1.5 ] and 2% [U₂ ] dry matter [DM]). The total study lasted 95 days, which included a 20 days adaptation period. Dry matter intake (DMI) of U₂ was lower than the intakes of U₀ and U₁ (p < .05), while average daily gains (ADG) of U₁ and U_1.5 were higher than U₀ and U₂ (p < .05). Rumen volatile fatty acids concentration did not differ among the four treatments, while ammonia nitrogen concentration increased with an increase in urea level (p < .05). Serum blood urea nitrogen concentration was lower in U_1.5 than in U₀ and U₂ while serum free fatty acids concentration in U₂ was higher than in the other three treatments (p < .05). We concluded that the addition of urea at a level of 1.5 to 2.0% DM resulted in a reduction in DMI but the addition of 1.0%-1.5% urea resulted in the highest ADG, with no negative effects on rumen fermentation and health status of the calves.