Effects of fennel seed (foeniculum vulgare) powder in corn or barley grain based diets on milk production and composition, ruminal fermentation and some blood parameters in Mohabadi dairy goats pre- and post-partum

In the last decades a substantial increase have been done in the research and application of herbal supplements and essential oils as feed additives in ruminant nutrition. One of the main reasons for this trend is to substitute antibiotic growth promoters, which have been completely banned as feed additives in the European Union since 2006 because they are suspected of contributing substantially to increasing resistance among human pathogens. Recent investigations have shown significant antimicrobial effects of several essential oils and essential oil compounds. Also investigations about ruminant nutrition showed a great potential for medicinal plants to be included in daily rations as different plant parts, essential oils or extracts. For centuries, essential oils – defined as natural oils typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which they are extracted – have been used around the world for a variety of therapeutic purposes. The ancient Egyptian, Greek, Chinese and other cultures used essential oils in cosmetics, perfumes and medicines. Today, many people use essential oils to enhance their mental, emotional and physical well-being. Mohabadi dairy goats showed a great milking performance as well as high energetic efficiency of milk production. As we know essential oils or medicinal plant extracts have their own problems to ration inclusion such as higher price and lower durability compared with original plant materials. Additionally, powdered pant parts can be easily mixed with the prepared ration without concerns regarding volatility of the core materials. Thus, this experiment was carried out in order to study the effects of fennel seed powder (Foeniculul vulgare) supplementation with two types of diets (based on barley or corn) on performance, rumen fermentation and blood parameters in pre and post-partum Mohabadi dairy goats.
Material and Twenty-four Mohabadi dairy goats were used in a completely randomized factorial design (2×2) and received 4 experimental diets including 2 levels of the fennel seed powder (0 and 10 gr/DMI) and two types of cereal grains (corn and barley). Animals were selected based on the parity, previous milk yield, and body weight and parturition time and randomly assigned to the each of the treatments. Animals were in experiment 30 days before to 30 days after the parturition and keep individually. Effects of dietary treatments on daily weight change, milk yield and dry matter intake were assessed as repeated measures data. Also, the effects on milk composition and milk component yield, apparent total tract nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters, ruminal volatile fatty acid profile and energy related plasma parameters ante- and post-partum periods were addressed.
The results of this study showed that fennel supplementation significantly increased dry matter intake and reduced body weight loss in early lactation (P˂0.05), but the grain type did not show a significant effect. Also, milk yield significantly increased and milk fat percentage decreased (P˂0.05) by the Fennel seed supplementation. Nevertheless, fennel seed supplementation did not change daily milk fat, protein, solids and solids nonfat production. Milk production efficiency as calculated based on milk yield per unit of dry matter intake, increased with fennel seed supplementation, may be due to estrogenic and prolactin enhancing effects of the fennel seeds Indeed, the experimental treatments could not significantly change the nutrient digestibility, total VFA concentration and pH. However, the ruminal VFA profile significantly affected by the fennel seed powder. Acetate concentration decreased and butyrate and propionate molar proportions increased with Fennel seed supplementation (P˂0.05). Dietary grain type could not exert a significant effect in ruminal fermentation parameters. Fennel seed powder significantly decreased the ammonia nitrogen concentration and protozoa population. In post-partum period, fennel seed powder supplementation significantly increased blood glucose concentration and decreased plasma urea, BHBA and NEFA (P˂0.05).
The results of the present experiment in line with the cited previous researches showed that the fennel seed powder supplementation in the dairy goats diet can improve the production performance and efficiency of early lactating dairy goats. Lowered negative energy balance in early lactating animals, was a result of fennel seed powder supplementation. Based on the present experiment it can concluded that fennel seed powder supplement with corn or barley based diets can improve production efficiency and metabolic profile of ante- and post-partum dairy goats.