The objective of this study was to investigate in vitro effect of Malva sylvestris leaf extract (at 0, 25, 50 and 100 µL/30 mL of medium) on sheep ruminal cellulolytic and total viable bacteria growth, protozoa populations, methane production, neutral detergent fiber degradability (NDFD) and fermentation efficiency of oat hay. The addition of Malva sylvestris leaf extract at 25, 50 and 100 µL led to a linear increase (P<0.01) in vitro truly degraded dry matter (INTDDM), NDFD and partitioning factor (PF) of oat hay and decrease (P<0.01) methane emission after 24 hours of incubation. The addition of Malva sylvestris leaf extract resulted in a decrease (P<0.01) in potential of gas production at 25 and 50 µL and increase in lag time (0.95, 1.01 and 1.13 h relative to 0.61 h), constant rate of gas production (b)and gas produced at half-life (c)at 25, 50 and 100 µL. The addition of this extract decreased a number of total protozoa and Entodinium, Isotrichae, Diplodinium and Ophryoscolex species (P<0.01). The number of total and cellulolytic bacteria was not influenced by the addition of Malva sylvestris leaf extract. The result of this study demonstrated that Malva sylvestris extract had some potential for improving the rumen fermentation. تفاصيل المقالة

The aim of this paper was to study of the effect of fenugreek seed (Trigonella foenum-graecum) and asparagus root (Asparagus officinalis) on in vitro digestibility and kinetics of gas production of alfalfa hay. Fenugreek seed (FS) and asparagus root (AR) were added at different levels (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% of DM). Total phenolic components of alfalfa hay (AH), fenugreek seed (FS) and asparagus root (AR) were 5.9, 10 and 8.3 g/kg DM, total tannins 0.4, 3.8 and 1.5 g/kg DM and saponin 10.4, 27.3 and 40.3 g/kg DM, respectively. In vitro dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility of alfalfa decreased (P<0.05) by addition of different levels of FS, but were not affected by adding AR. Addition of FS did not affect alfalfa crude protein (CP) digestibility, but AR at levels of 5 and 20% DM decreased (P<0.05) it. Metabolizable energy (ME) increased (P<0.05) due to addition of FS, but it decreased (P<0.05) by incorporation of AR. Addition of FS (at 10% DM level) and AR (at 5% DM level) decreased (P<0.05) potential gas production. The rate constants (c and d) were not affected by addition of FS and AR. FS and AR at level of 5% DM decreased (P<0.05) lag time (l). FS did not affect fermentation rate (h-1), but AR at level of 10% DM increased (P<0.05) it. Results suggest that fenugreek seed and asparagus root due to secondary metabolites content's may have potential to improve the nutritive value of alfalfa hay تفاصيل المقالة