Effect of Some Medical Herbs on Productive Performance of Lactating Zaraibi Goats

Abstract

hirty does of Zaraibi goats were chosen at the third and fourth season of lactation, and randomly divided into five similar groups (6 does for each) according to their live body weight (33.75 ±0.42 kg) and fed the experimental rations for 4 months (one month before parturition to 3 months after parturition) as an experimental period to investigate the effects of including rosemary or laurel herbs as natural feed additives in their rations, on digestibility, productive performance, milk production and some blood parameters of goats. Rosemary dry leaves (RDL) or laurel dry leaves (LDL) were added to the concentrate feed mixture (CFM) portion of the rations at levels of 0, 0.5, 1, 0.5 and 1% along the whole duration of the experiment. Each group was assigned randomly to feeding one of experimental rations where R1(control): received 60% CFM +40% berseem fresh (BR), R2: 60% CFM +40% BR+ 0.5% rosemary dry leaves (RDL), R3: 60% CFM +40% BR+ 1% RDL and R4: 60% CFM +40% BR+ 0.5% laurel dry leaves (LDL), R5: 60% CFM +40% BR+ 1% LDL. The feed allowances were calculated according to NRC (2007) for goats. Five digestibility trials were performed to evaluate the nutrient digestibilities and feeding values of the experimental rations. Results indicated that chemical composition of RDL and LDL were contained