Effect of Yarrow flower (Achillea millefolium) and Eucalyptus leaf (Eucalyptus globolus) on in vitro digestibility of alfalfa hay

Achillea flower and Eucalyptus including phenolic components which may affect rumen fermentation pattern. This study carried out to evaluate effect of Achillea millefolium flower (AM) and Eucalyptus globolus leaf (EG) on alfalfa OM, CP and NDF digestibility (in vitro) at different incubation times (6, 12, 18, 24 and 48h). Rumen liquor collected from two Sanjabi sheep fitted with permanent fistula and in vitro nutrients digestibility were measured using Tilly and Terry procedure. Treatments were alfalfa (control) and alfalfa plus different levels (5, 10, 15 and 20% of DM) of AM or EG. Total phenolic components of alfalfa, AM and EG were 5.9, 23.3 and 89.3 g/Kg DM, whereas total tannins were 0.4, 15.3 and 72.2 g/ Kg DM. Saponins were at the rate of 10.4, 67.5 and 174.1 g/ Kg DM, respectively. Incorporation of different levels of AM to the media containing alfalfa resulted in no significant alteration in OM, CP and NDF digestibility. Replacement of alfalfa by EG at initial stage of incubation (≤ 18 h) had no significant effect on digestibility but following prolongation of incubation it decreased (P<0.05) nutrients digestibility. Crude protein digestibility start to decline due to partial replacement of alfalfa hay by EG and highest effect was observed at 20 percent. NDF digestibility of alfalfa also decreased (P<0.05) by incorporation of EG to the media. It can be concluded that, both herbal plants were influenced nutrients digestibility of alfalfa in different manner. Although, EG decreased nutrients digestibility of alfalfa at different percentage level but AM did not influence its digestibility.