The Effect of Addition of Mixture of Garlic Oil and Sunflower Oil on In Vitro Gas Production Parameters and Protozoa Population

This experiment was aimed to study the effect of mixture of garlic oil and sunflower oil in diet containing equal ratio of concentrate to forage. The mixture of garlic oil and sunflower oil was added at 2% of diet DM. Gas production parameters, pH, N-ammonia and total protozoa population were measured and metabolizable energy (ME), short -chain fatty acid (SCFA) and organic matter digestibility (OMD) was estimated. The results showed that the mixture of garlic oil and sunflower oil increased gas production (128.64 vs 108.51 mL, P<0.05) but had no significant effect on gas production rate, half-life and lag phase. The addition of the mixture of garlic oil and sunflower oil to diet, increased OMD, SCFA and ME in compare to the control diet (P<0.05). The concentration of Ammonia-N, pH, total protozoa population, Entodinium, Diplodinium and Ophryoscolex population did not affected by the inclusion of the oil mixture. It is concluded that the addition of a mixture of garlic oil and sunflower oil not only had no negative effect on rumen fermentation but also, improved some of the fermentation parameters.