Effect of supplementation of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) herb and exogenous fibrolytic enzymes on growth of lambs

A study was conducted to assess the effect of supplementation of Artemisia absinthium L. (wormwood) and exogenous fibrolytic enzymes on growth performance of lambs. Crossbred lambs (n=15) of 4–6 months age were randomly divided into three groups (5 each) and fed for a period of 90 days followed by six day metabolism trial. Animals in all the groups were offered oats straw-based complete feed, supplemented with wormwood herb @ 4.5% of dry matter (DM) either alone (G-2) or in combination with exogenous fibrolytic enzymes cocktail @ 0.6% of DM (G-3), whereas the complete feed without any supplementation served as control (G-1). Herb supplementation had positive (P′0.05) effect on digestible crude protein and metabolizable energy intakes (113.85 g/d and 9.20 MJ/d in G-2, 120.42 g/d and 9.72 MJ/d in G-3 compared to 87.38 g/d and 7.25 MJ/d in G-1, respectively). The mean digestibility values were significantly (P<0.05) higher for organic matter (67.65% in G-2 and 69.79% in G-3) and for crude protein (68.60% in G-2 and 71.26% in G-3) while for various fibre fractions were higher (P<0.05) in the G-3 compared to G-1 and G-2. There were significantly (P<0.01) higher total body weight gain (10.92 kg in G-2 and 12.30 kg in G-3) and average daily gain (121.33 g/d in G-2 and 136.67 g/d in G-3) compared to the control (6.92 kg and 76.89 g/d). It was concluded that wormwood herb supplemented alone as feed additive in complete diets for lambs enhance growth rate in terms of higher body weight and body measurements.