Nutritional Studies on the Use of Garlic, Cinnamon and Peppermint in Sheep Nutrition and Their Impact on Gas Production and Digestibility

The present study was carried out at the Animal Research Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez CanalUniversity, Ismailia, Egypt: in vitro assay. The treatments were: 1- control: concentrate feed mixture (CFM) + Ricestraw (RS) (2:1) without additives, 2- control diet + garlic powder 0.5%, 3- control diet + garlic powder 1%, 4- controldiet + garlic powder 1.5%, 5- control diet + garlic powder 2%, 6- control diet + garlic powder 2.5%, 7- control diet +cinnamon powder 0.5%, 8- control diet + cinnamon powder 1%, 9- control diet + cinnamon powder 1.5%, 10- controldiet + cinnamon powder 2%, 11- control diet + cinnamon powder 2.5%, 12- control diet + peppermint powder 0.5%,13- control diet + peppermint powder 1%, 14- control diet + peppermint powder 1.5%. 15- control diet + peppermintpowder 2% and 16- control diet + peppermint powder 2.5%. Ten digestibility trials were conducted on sheep toevaluate the experimental rations as the following treatments: Ration 1- (Control): (CFM) and wheat straw (WS) (ratio2:1) without any additives, Ration 2- CFM and WS + 1.5% garlic powder, Ration 3- CFM and WS + 2% garlic powder,Ration 4- CFM and WS + 2.5% garlic powder, Ration 5- CFM and WS + 1.5% cinnamon powder, Ration 6- CFM andWS + 2% cinnamon powder, Ration 7- CFM and WS + 2.5% cinnamon powder, Ration 8- CFM and WS + 1.5%peppermint powder, Ration 9- CFM and WS + 2% peppermint powder and Ration 10 CFM and WS + 2.5% peppermintpowder. Most treatments significantly increased in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) and in vitro organic matterdisappearance (IVOMD) compared with control. 2% garlic and 2.5% cinnamon significantly decreased gas productionafter 24 hr. The digestibility trials showed that the three plants by 2.5% has given the best results and dry matterdigestibility was significantly increased except garlic and significantly increased organic matter, crude protein, crudefiber, nitrogen free extracts and nutritive values as TDN and DCP. It could be concluded that the three plants as a natureadditives in ruminant diet decreased gas production and improved animal digestibility.