| Abstrakt: |
The experiment was conducted to assess the effect of Artemisia absinthium L. (wormwood) supplementation as feed additive on body growth pattern of lambs. Crossbred lambs (n=15) of 4-6 months age allotted to three equal groups were fed for a period of 90 days. All animals were offered oats straw based complete diet, supplemented with wormwood herb alone @ 4.50% substrate dry matter-DM (Hrb) or in-combination with an exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (EFE) cocktail @ 0.60% DM (HrbEz); the diet without any supplementation served as control (Con). Body biometrics of animals were recorded at start and subsequently at fortnightly intervals. Live body weight (kg), net weight gain (kg) and average daily gain (g/d) were 17.32, 10.92, 121.33 in Hrb, and 18.16, 12.30, 136.67 in HrbEz higher (p<0.01) than in control (15.39, 6.92, 76.89, respectively). Besides, wormwood herb supplementations increased (p<0.01) the mean (cm) (66.35 in Hrb and 68.97 in HrbEz) and net change (cm) (16.62 in Hrb and 21.94 in HrbEz) for chest girth (CG), and the mean (cm) (88.45 in Hrb and 89.91 in HrbEz) and net change (cm) (17.78 in Hrb and 21.06 in HrbEz) for belly girth (BG) of animals compared to control (62.33 and 8.62 cm for CG, and 85.05 and 11.70 cm for BG, respectively). The body biometric indices revealed better influence of the herb supplementation compared to control with no further additional benefit when supplemented in-combination with EFE. It is concluded that the wormwood herb supplementations enhance growth rate in terms of higher weight gains and body measurements for successfully raising lambs intensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
