Essential oils have been shown to favorably effect in vitro ruminal fermentation, but there are few in vivo studies that have examined animal responses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of thyme (THY) and cinnamon (CIN) essential oils on feed intake, growth performance, ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites in feedlot calves fed high-concentrate diets. Twelve growing Holstein calves (213±17 kg initial BW) were used in a completely randomized design and received their respective dietary treatments for 45 d. Treatments were: 1-control (no additive), 2-THY (5 g/d/calf) and 3-CIN (5 g/d/calf). Calves were fed ad libitum diets consisting of 15% forage and 85% concentrate, and adapted to the finishing diet by gradually increasing the concentrate ratio with feeding a series of transition diets 5 wk before the experiment started. Supplementation of THY or CIN did not affect DMI and ADG, and feed efficiency was similar between treatment groups. There were no effects of additives on ruminal pH and rumen concentrations of ammonia nitrogen and total VFA; whereas molar proportion of acetate and ratio of acetate to propionate decreased, and the molar proportion of propionate increased with THY and CIN supplementation. Rumen molar concentration of butyrate was significantly increased by adding CIN compared to control; but no change was observed with THY compared with control group. No effects of THY, or CIN were observed on valerate, isobutyrate or isovalerate proportions. Plasma concentrations of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, urea-N, β-hydroxybutyrate, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase were not changed by feeding THY or CIN. Results from this study suggest that supplementing a feedlot finishing diet with THY or CIN essential oil might be useful as ruminal fermentation modifiers in beef production systems, but has minor impacts on blood metabolites.

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This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of partial and total substitution of lucerne hay with pistachio by-product on nutrient intake, apparent digestibility, rumen fermentation, digesta kinetics, blood metabolites, nitrogen retention and microbial protein synthesis in Baloochi sheep. Six sheep with a bodyweight of 40.1 ± 1.77 kg fitted with ruminal and abomasal cannulae were assigned at random to three diets in a double 3 × 3 Latin-square design. The dietary treatments included a control (basal diet), low pistachio by-product diet (50% of the lucerne hay in the basal diet was replaced by pistachio by-product), and high pistachio by-product diet (all of the lucerne hay in the basal diet was replaced by pistachio by-product). The daily basal diet was 500 g/kg DM lucerne hay, 250 g/kg DM wheat straw, 210 g/kg DM barley grain, 30 g/kg DM cotton seed meal, 8 g/kg DM vitamin–mineral supplement and 2 g/kg DM salt. Faeces and urine were collected for 8 days and used to estimate digestibility, nitrogen retention and microbial protein synthesis. Sheep were dosed ruminally with Cr-EDTA (2.27 g/L) and rumen samples were evaluated for pH, volatile fatty acids, ammonia nitrogen concentrations and digesta kinetics. The intake of neutral detergent fibre, purine derivatives excretion, volatile fatty acid concentrations in the rumen and ammonia nitrogen in the abomasum decreased (P < 0.05). Ether extract intake and ruminal pH was increased at 5 h after feeding (P < 0.05) as the level of pistachio by-product in the diet increased. Total pistachio by-product replacement for lucerne hay increased (P < 0.05) apparent digestibility of nitrogen, ether extract, organic matter and nitrogen retention and decreased (P < 0.05) microbial protein synthesis, efficiency of microbial protein synthesis and ammonia nitrogen in the rumen. The inclusion of pistachio by-product had no effect on blood metabolites and digesta kinetics. Based on these results it was concluded that pistachio by-product can be considered as a useful replacement for lucerne hay in the diet of Baloochi sheep without any negative impacts on their responses. Moreover, pistachio by-product inclusion in diet improved nitrogen metabolism in Baloochi sheep.

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(2014) Effects of pistachio by-products in replacement of alfalfa hay on ruminal fermentation, blood metabolites, and milk fatty acid composition in Saanen dairy goats fed a diet containing fish oil, Journal of Applied Animal Research, 42:2,[186][187][188][189][190][191][192][193] The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of pistachio by-products (PBP) in replacement of alfalfa hay (AH) on ruminal fermentation, blood metabolites, and milk fatty acid composition in Saanen dairy goats fed a diet containing fish oil. For this purpose, 15 multiparous lactating Saanen goats (on day 25 postpartum, 38.159 1.2 kg) were randomly assigned to three treatment diets in a completely randomized design with five goats per treatment. The treatment consisted of feeding the following diets: (1) control (AH), (2) 30% PBP, and (3) 30% PBP 'polyethylene glycol (PEG, 1 g/Kg of dry matter [DM]). The experiment lasted 21 days, including 16 days of adaptation to the experimental diets followed by a five-day sampling period for determining milk yield and composition, dry matter intake (DMI), and blood metabolites. The results showed that DMI was affected (PB 0.05) by using PBP in the diets. The goats fed PBP had a lower (PB0.05) DMI than those in other treatments. No differences were observed in milk yield and composition among the dietary treatments. The goats fed PBP (with and without PEG) had higher (P B0.05) amounts of C16:0 and trans-C18:1 isomer in their milk fat than those fed AH. C24:0 was detected at higher (P B0.05) concentrations in goats fed AH than those in other treatments. Overall, different treatments had no significant effects on the concentrations of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in milk fat. Trans fatty acids (TFA) in milk fat exhibited higher (PB0.05) concentrations in PBP and PBP-PEG treatments than in AH. However, no differences were detected in the concentrations of short, medium, and long chain fatty acids among the treatments. No differences were observed in rumen pH among the treatments, while rumen ammonia-N concentrations were lower (P B0.01) in goats fed PBP than those in the other treatments. Treatments showed no differences with regard to blood metabolites (i.e., cholesterol, triglyceride, blood urea nitrogen, total protein, albumin, and glucose). These findings indicate that the inclusion of PBP in replacement of AH in the diet of dairy Saanen goats have no adverse effects on ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites. Moreover, PBP is capable of modifying the fatty acid profile of milk in dairy goat.