Abstract
Aim: Present study was conducted to examine the modulatory effect of different essential oils on rumen fermentation pattern in vitro using wheat straw based diet (concentrate: wheat straw 50:50). Materials and Methods: Four essential oils i.e. cinnamon, garlic, oregano and rosemary oils were tested at concentration of 0, 30, 300 and 600 mg/litre (ppm) of total culture fluid using in vitro gas production technique. Total gas production, methane production, nutrient degradability, volatile fatty acid (VFA) production and ammonia nitrogen concentration were studied in vitro using buffalo rumen liquor. Results: Results indicated that all four essential oils decreased gas production significantly (P<0.05) at 600ppm concentration. However, in case of garlic oil, 300 ppm concentration was also found to be effective in decreasing total gas production. Reduction in methane production was found maximum (P<0.05) at higher doses in most of the oils. Maximum reduction in methane was noticed with garlic oil at 600ppm dose. Ammonia-N concentration was also decreased significantly (P<0.05) with essential oils and was found minimum with oregano oil at 600 ppm dose. Partition factor was found to be significantly (P<0.05) higher in 600 ppm concentration of garlic and oregano oil. The degradability of dry matter decreased significantly with higher concentration of essential oil in most of treatment combinations.
Highlights
The use of antibiotics as animal feed additive is facing reduced social acceptance due to the appearance of residues and resistant strains of bacteria
The Dry matter (DM), Organic matter (OM), Crude protein (CP), Ether extract (EE), CF, NFE and total ash contents are similar to the findings of earlier workers [26, 27]
The main compounds of oregano oil (Origanum vulgare) are carvacrol, thymol, α-and βpinene, β-bisabolene, cineol, p-cimene, borenol, Effect of essential oils on gas and methane production: Gas production remains unaffected in cinnamon oil supplemented groups (Table-2), whereas it reduced significantly (P
Summary
The use of antibiotics as animal feed additive is facing reduced social acceptance due to the appearance of residues and resistant strains of bacteria. Plants and their extracts are attractive with consumer opinion that most things 'natural' are good. Essential oils (EO) are plant secondary metabolites and the word “Essential oils” has come from “essence” which means sweet fragrance. The odour of EOs is due to the presence of active compounds (thymol, carvacol, eugenol, limonene, allicin, diallyldisulphide etc.). Some EOs have antimicrobial activities and are currently considered safe for human and animal consumption, and are categorized as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) [1]. Potential use in the diet of ruminants has been reviewed recently [2, 3]. Use of essential oil as antimicrobial substances has been studied [16]
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