Urea treatment of straw is a method to improve the digestibility of straw and its nitrogen content. The method is mostly interesting where there is surplus of straw of poor quality. Such situations can exist where paddy rice is produced. The method consists of adding to the straw water containing 5% urea; about of water (mixed with urea) is applied for of straw.  The straw thus treated is hermetically covered with a plastic sheet for a period of 20 to 30 days. It is subsequently aired in the open air for three hours before being given to animals for food. An ox can consume about 7 kg of this fodder per day. It may take some time before the animals get used to consuming urea treated straw.

Another method developed by ILRI to fatten cows consists of supplying them with a supplement of 6 g of superphosphate, 7 g of salt and 600 g of millet bran per day (Ayantunde and al.1998). Results from a study showed that the animals receiving this fodder ration gained 100 g additional weight per day, while those animals not receiving it lost 95 g per day. The millet bran contributes to increase the protein content of the ration as this nutrient contains 16% protein.

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