Abstract
Simple SummaryHerbal products as feed supplements show beneficial effects on the productive performance and health of non-ruminants, but there is limited information about the effects in ruminants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a polyherbal mixture on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and concentration of blood metabolites in lambs during the fattening period. Polyherbal mixture supplementation improved dry matter intake and increased the live weight of lambs without affecting carcass characteristics or meat quality. Polyherbal mixture supplementation was associated with lower blood creatinine concentration suggesting beneficial effects on the renal health condition of lambs. The results suggest that the use of herbal mixtures as additives in diets of finishing lambs can improve productivity without affecting carcass characteristics and meat quality.The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the supplementation of a polyherbal mixture (HM) on the productive performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and the profile of blood metabolites of lambs fed a high-concentrate diet. Thirty-six male Pelibuey lambs (25.21 ± 0.96 kg BW) were housed in individual pens during a 56-day feeding period and were randomly assigned to four treatments: (1) Control (CON): Basal diet without HM; (2) HM1: CON + 1 g of HM kg−1 dry matter (DM); (3) HM2: CON + 2 g of HM kg−1 DM; and (4) HM3: CON + 3 g of HM kg−1 DM. Data were analyzed using the GLM (General Linear Model) procedure of statistical analysis system (SAS), and linear and quadratic effects were tested to evaluate the effects of the HM level. A quadratic increase was observed in the dry matter intake and in daily weight gain (p < 0.05) of lambs fed with HM2 and HM1, respectively. However, final body weight, body condition, carcass characteristics, and meat quality were similar among treatments (p > 0.05). It was observed a linear increase (p < 0.05) in the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. Lymphocytes in blood from lambs supplemented with the HM1 diet increased and segmented neutrophils decreased compared to lambs receiving the CON treatment (p < 0.05). The concentration of uric acid in the blood had a linear increase (p < 0.05) and the serum creatinine level decreased (p < 0.05) as the HM dietary dose increased. In conclusion, dietary inclusion of 2 and 1 g of HM kg−1 of DM improves feed consumption and daily weight gain, respectively, without affecting carcass characteristics, meat quality, and health status on finishing lambs.
Highlights
Growth promoters have been widely used to increase the productivity of ruminants and non-ruminants
body condition scoring (BCS) showed a tendency of quadratic increase (p = 0.10), and the lambs that were supplemented with HM1 performed higher than the lambs fed with the other diets
It was observed that Daily weight gain (DWG), Dry matter intake (DMI), and FBW increased at doses up to 2% of the extract in the diet, these decreased at doses of 4%
Summary
Growth promoters have been widely used to increase the productivity of ruminants and non-ruminants. Previous studies have shown that herbal products (7.8 and 16% kg−1 of DM) containing flavonoids stimulate muscle protein synthesis [6] and increase serum levels of the growth hormone in sheep [7] These compounds have been successfully used to increase the duodenal flow of amino acids and microbial protein [8] and to reduce methane production in cattle [9]. Due to the beneficial effects of herbal products and their secondary metabolites, it has been hypothesized that supplementation with HM as a source of phenols and flavonoids can contribute to improving the productivity of the lambs during the final fattening period without affecting the quality of the meat or the health of the animals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of increased doses of HM containing phenols and flavonoids on the productive performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and concentration of blood metabolites of lambs fed high-concentrate diets
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