Inclusion of Berberis vulgaris leaf in the diet of fattening lambs: effects on performance, nutrient intake, rumen fermentation, and carcass traits

Vaghar Seyedin, S. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0783-4115, Ghavipanje, N., Mojtahedi, M., Farhangfar, S. H. and Vargas-Bello-Pérez, E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7105-5752 (2023) Inclusion of Berberis vulgaris leaf in the diet of fattening lambs: effects on performance, nutrient intake, rumen fermentation, and carcass traits. Journal of Animal Science, 101 (skad131). ISSN 1525-3163 doi: 10.1093/jas/skad131

Abstract/Summary

This study was aimed to first, determine the nutritional value of Berberis vulgaris leaf (BVL), using in-vitro gas production technique and second, determine the effect of replacing alfalfa hay (AH) with BVL in lamb diets on nutrient intake, performance, and carcass traits. In-vitro rumen gas kinetics and fermentation profile were assessed using three fistulated lambs and 96 h incubation of samples. For the in-vivo trial, twenty-one Baluchi male lambs of 5–6 months of age and 30.6 ± 1.28 kg body weight (BW) were randomly assigned to three treatment diets containing BVL at 0% (CTRL), 7.5% (BVL7.5), and 15% (BVL15) of the total dry matter (DM) inclusion. The study lasted 84 days, which included 14 days for adaption and 70 days for sample collection. In-vitro results showed that BVL had lower gas yield (GY24, p ≤ 0.05) than AH. In-vivo trial revealed that DMI increased with BVL15 followed by BVL7.5 (p ≤ 0.05). Digestibility of DM, OM, NDF, and ADL decreased (p ≤ 0.05) with BVL15. Total weight gain (TWG), average daily gain (ADG), hot carcass weight (HCW), and cold carcass weight (CCW) were decreased (p ≤ 0.05) with BVL15, however, no differences were observed between the BVL7.5 and CTRL groups. Feed cost per kg BW gain decrease (p ≤ 0.05) by increasing the inclusion levels of BVL. In conclusion, BVL (up to 7.5 % DM of diet) have positive consequences on performance, nutrient intake, rumen fermentation without deleterious effects on fattening performance.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/111885
Identification Number/DOI	10.1093/jas/skad131
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Animal Sciences
Uncontrolled Keywords	Genetics, Animal Science and Zoology, General Medicine, Food Science
Publisher	American Society of Animal Science
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