1907
The effect of some herbal plants on plasma metabolites of lactating goats
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a dried mixture of 7 herbal plants including thyme, mint, oregano, cumin, camel thorn, garlic, and eucalyptus as a natural dietary additive on plasma metabolites of lactating goats. Twenty lactating goats (3 week after kidding, 2–3 years old, average BW = 34.45 kg) were used in a completely randomized design with 2 treatments for a 40 day trial. Treatments included (1) a control ration, consisting of barley and alfalfa (50:50 DM basis) without herbal plant mixture, and (2) control ration + 250 mg kg−1 body weight per day herbal plant mixture. Amount of basal diet for the 2 groups was 0.5 kg/head/d. Animals had free access to water and green fodder. Blood samples were collected at the end of experiment after morning feeding for determination of plasma glucose, triglyceride (TG), urea nitrogen (BUN), total protein and cholesterol concentrations. Results showed that mean concentration of plasma glucose (60.5 and 57.5 mg/dL), total protein (10.0 and 9.6 g/dL), BUN (21.5 and 24.2 mg/dL) and TG (31.5 and 30.3 mg/dL) were not affected by herbal plants, but cholesterol concentration (73.7 and 59.7 mg/dL was significantly lower in treatment 2 (P < 0.05). It is concluded that herbal plant mixture were used in this study significantly decreased cholesterol concentration in plasma of lactating goats.
Keywords:
blood metabolites
herbal plants
lactating goat