Evaluation of Potential New Opportunities for Herbal Plants as Natural Products on Rumen Fermentation Patterns <i>in vitro</i>

Abstract

Two experiments (Exp.) were conducted to determine the effects of dietary addition of five herbal plants (HP) alone or as herbal plant mixture (HPM) on <em>in vitro</em> gas production and ruminal fermentation patterns. In Exp. 1, five varieties of HP (garlic, eucalyptus, cinnamon, thyme, and peppermint) were added to the diet at 3 different concentrations (5, 10 and 15% of concentrate dry matter). In Exp. 2, the HPM was used at the concentration of 2, 4 and 6%. The results show that most ruminal fermentation parameters were affected by HP and HPM. The addition of HP and HPM to the diet significantly increased total <em>in vitro</em> gas production (b) and the fractional rate constant of gas production (c, P<0.01). Concentrations of NH₃ (Exp. 1), CH₄ (Exp. 1 and 2), total volatile fatty acids (Exp. 1 and 2), acetate (Exp. 1), propionate (Exp. 1 and 2) and acetate/propionate ratio (Exp. 1) were affected by HP and HPM. Ruminal short-chain fatty acids (SCFA, Pin vivo conditions.