Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (May 2020)

Effect of thyme essential oil on rumen parameters, nutrient digestibility, and nitrogen balance in wethers fed high concentrate diets

  • A.D.B. Ribeiro,
  • M.V.C. Ferraz Junior,
  • D.M. Polizel,
  • A.A. Miszura,
  • J.P.R. Barroso,
  • A.R. Cunha,
  • T.T. Souza,
  • E.M. Ferreira,
  • I. Susin,
  • A.V. Pires

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4162-11322
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 72, no. 2
pp. 573 – 580

Abstract

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ABSTRACT This trial aimed to evaluate the effects of thyme essential oils (EO) on rumen parameters, nutrient digestibility and nitrogen balance in wethers fed with high-concentrate diet. Twenty rumen-cannulated wethers were blocked according to body weight (BW= 64.0±2.1kg), and received one of the following treatments: 25mg of monensin/kg of dry matter (DM; MON) or doses of thyme EO (1.25, 2.50 or 3.75g/kg of DM). The diet was composed of 90% concentrate. Thyme EO was composed mainly by thymol (46.6% of DM) and p-cymene (38.9% of DM). The nutrient intake and apparent digestibility were similar among treatments. The inclusion of 3.75g of thyme EO tended (P= 0.07) to increase butyrate compared to MON and 1.25OE and wethers fed with 1.25g of thyme EO tended (P= 0.07) to decrease ruminal pH on the 14th day compared to MON. The treatments did not affect acetate:propionate ratio, total short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and nitrogen retention. Results from this study suggest that adding thyme EO to high-concentrate diets may be used as an alternative to monensin as feed additive in feedlot lambs.

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