Abstract
Simple SummaryThis study evaluated the effects of stevioside, a natural sweetener that is an extract of Stevia, on feed intake and feeding behavior of goats. The results demonstrated that the consumption of forage was improved after supplementation with stevioside. Supplementation of stevioside resulted in improved total diet consumption of goats. These results are useful for ruminant producers to use natural sweeteners to regulate the intakes of animals.The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion of stevioside on feed intake, feeding behavior, nutrient digestion, rumen fermentation, and serum biochemical parameters in goats. Nine male Xiangdong black goats (21.8 ± 1.5 kg of body weight) were used in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square. All goats were fed a basal diet including concentrate and forage (chopped rice straw). The three treatments were 0, 400, or 800 mg stevioside per kg chopped rice straw on a dry matter (DM) basis. Dry matter intake of forage and total diet linearly increased (p = 0.03 and p = 0.04) with increasing stevioside in the diet. There was no effect (p > 0.05) of stevioside inclusion in the diets on eating time, rumination time, or total mastication time for the goats. Total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration in the rumen responded quadratically (p < 0.01), decreasing from 0 to 400 mg/kg stevioside inclusion and increasing thereafter. The inclusion of steviosid in the diets promoted a quadratic increase in the apparent total tract digestibilities of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) (p = 0.02) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) (p = 0.01). Based on the results of this experiment, it could be concluded that supplementing goat diets with stevioside at 400 mg/kg to 800 mg/kg forage (about 270 to 541 mg/kg diet) resulted in increased dry intake of forage and total diet, suggesting that stevioside has positive potential as a feed additive to improve feed intake.
Highlights
Feed intake directly affects the performance of domestic animals
The inclusion of stevioside in the diets promoted a linear increase in the dry matter intakes of forage ((p = 0.03) and diet (p = 0.04; Table 2)
We speculated that stevioside could increase the palatability of rice straw by increasing the sweetness, and promote goat eating more rice straw, which resulted in increased dietary intake
Summary
Feed intake directly affects the performance of domestic animals. Palatability of feed plays an important role in feed intake regulation, and the palatability of a feed can be defined as all the physical (appearance, texture, etc) and chemical (taste, smell, etc) characteristics of the feed that act on appetite [1]. Feed intake can be increased when some chemical components such as monosodium glutamate [2], flavor, and fragrance [3] are added to the ruminant diets to improve the taste and smell, especially when feed is unpalatable. Taste of feed is one of the important factors that can influence palatability and feed consumption by animals. Taste is associated with chemical components that can be perceived by the mouth, nose, and brain of animals. Sweetener as a taste modifier is used to affect taste of feed to enhance the palatability. Sweet flavors are associated with natural and artificial sweetening agents. Some studies have reported that natural or artificial sweetener can increase feed intake and average daily gain when they are supplemented to ruminants’ diets [4,5]. Goatcher and Church [6] observed that the sensitivity extent to sucrose among sheep, cattle, and goats is cattle >
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