Effect of Essential Oil on Growth Performance, Rumen Fermentation and Nutrient Digestibility of Hu Sheep

Plant essential oil is used as a feed additive instead of antibiotics, but there is little research on its application in ruminants. Therefore, it is very necessary to study the effects of essential oil on growth performance, rumen fermentation and nutrient digestibility of Hu sheep.

96 weaned male Hu sheep, weighing 17.69±0.20 kg, were randomly divided into 3 groups (control, 300 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg essential oil), with 4 replicates per group and 8 sheep per replicate. The pre-feeding period was 10 days and the full trial period was 61 days.

The results showed that the final weight of Hu sheep increased significantly (P<0.05) and the rumen liquid ammonia nitrogen decreased significantly (P<0.05) in the 600 mg/kg essential oil group when compared with the control group. The addition of essential oil to the diet had no significant effect on the rumen pH, volatile fatty acids and the digestibility of various nutrients. In conclusion, the diet addition of 600 mg/kg essential oil was better than 300 mg/kg for weaned Hu sheep performance, which can improve the growth performance and reduce the ammonia nitrogen of the rumen fluid. Essential oil can be added to Hu sheep feed as a good feed additive.