Effect of Pistacia Atlantica Kurdica gum essential oil on growth performance during pre and post-weaning period on Sanjabi male lambs

The effect of feeding essential oil of Pistacia Atlantica Kurdica gum during the suckling period on pre and post-weaning growth performance of Sanjabi male lambs using 30 male lambs from an estrus synchronized flock of ewes was carried out, in the form of a completely randomized design with 3 treatments and 10 replications. The lambs were divided into three groups three days after birth. The first group received no essential oil, and the second and the third groups received a daily dose of 0.8 and 1.6 ml until weaning by a drenching syringe, respectively. Lambs were weaned at 100 days of age and were raised for 10 weeks with the other herd lambs until 170 days of age. Feeding the essential oil increased weaning weight and post-weaning daily weight gain. The blood glucose of lambs during the suckling or post-waning period did not change due to feeding the essential oil. Lambs received the essential oil and had lower blood cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, and higher urea and albumin to globulin ratio. Feeding the essential oil reduced blood malondialdehyde levels but increasing the level of the essential oil did not further decrease this metabolite. The results showed that the essential oil as a new feed additive has a good potential to improve the pre and post-weaning performance of lambs when fed during the suckling period. Since, increasing the level of the essential oil resulted in no additional improvement in the performance of lambs therefore, a daily dose of 0.8 ml is recommended.