The Effect of Lycopene Supplementation on Fermentation Parameters, Nutrient Digestibility and Feed Intake of Fattening Lamb Diet In Vitro and In Vivo

Lycopene (C40H56) is a fat-soluble carotenoid with the highest antioxidant activity among carotenoids. Lycopene is effective on alleviating oxidative stress and improving the quality of animal products. It is expected that the addition of strong antioxidants such as lycopene can be useful in improving the optimal condition of the rumen and subsequent digestion and animal health. In this study the effects of using different levels of lycopene in on fermentation parameters in vitro; digestibility and feed intake of fattening lambs had been investigated.

In this study, in first stage, the digestibility and fermentation parameters of diets containing 0 (control), 0.4, 0.8, 1.6 and 2.4 mg/g DM of lycopene were determined in vitro in a completely randomized design experiment. In Second stage, the effect of selected diets from the in vitro stage (diet with and without 2.4 g/kg lycopene supplement DM) on feed intake and nutrient digestibility was investigated in vivo using 20 male lambs.

The results showed that increasing level of lycopene in the diet caused a linear decrease in gas production (p<0.05). Total gas productions were 65.8, 64.5, 64.2, 64.2 and 58.4 ml fin and control, 0.4, 0.8, 1.6 and 2.4 mg/g DM lycopene respectively. Adding lycopene to the diet increased partitioning factor (4.91, 4.92, 5.01, 5.1 and 5.44 mg/ml) and microbial protein synthesis (198, 200, 203, 208 and 220 mg) (p<0.05) but decreased ammonia nitrogen (p<0.05). However, pH, short-chain fatty acids metabolizable energy, dry matter and organic matter disappearance were not affected by lycopene. Results from Tilley and Terry experiment showed that lycopene had no significant effect on digestibility of dry matter, neutral detergent and acid detergents fiber. In vivo results showed that lycopene supplementation increased feed intake with no effect of nutrient digestibility in fattening lambs.

Lycopene supplementation increased partitioning factor, production of microbial protein in vitro, and increased feed intake of fattening lambs in vivo.