Gouwen Liang, Zhifeng Zhai, Muyao Hou, Tiantian Li
(School of Modern Agriculture and Biotechnology, Changjiang Normal University)
Abstract：
This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of pine needle essential oil on growth performance，nutrient digestibility and serum biochemical indices of weaned lambs. Forty male lambs weaned with similar body weight were randomly divided into 4 groups. The basal di⁃ et was supplemented with 0（group Ⅰ), 0.02%（group Ⅱ), 0.04%（group Ⅲ) and 0.06%（group Ⅳ) pine needle essential oil，respectively. The pre-feeding period lasted for 10 days and the formal experiment period lasted for 60 days. The results showed as follows:（1）The aver⁃ age daily gain of group Ⅲ was significantly higher than that of groups Ⅰ and Ⅱ（P< 0.05）,there was no significant difference between groupsⅢ and Ⅳ, groups Ⅰ , Ⅱand Ⅳ（P> 0.05）;Dry matter intake in groups Ⅲ and Ⅳ was significantly higher than that in group Ⅰ （P < 0.05）,there were no significant differences between groups Ⅰ and Ⅱ , groups Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ（P> 0.05）. There was no significant difference in feed to gain among all groups（P＞0.05）.（2）The digestibility of dry matter and crude protein in group Ⅲ was significantly higher than that in group Ⅰ（P< 0.05）,there was no significant difference among experimental groups Ⅰ , Ⅱ and Ⅳ（P> 0.05）.There were no significant differences in the digestibility of neutral detergent fiber（NDF）,acid detergent fiber（ADF）,calcium（Ca）and phos⁃ phorus（P）among all groups（P> 0.05）.（3）Thedietary supplementation of 0，0.02%，0.04% and 0.06% pine needle essential oil showed no significant effects on the contents of total protein（TP），albumin（ALB）,creatinine（CRE）andurea nitrogen（UN）,the activities of alkaline phosphatase（AKP）,aspartate transaminase（AST）and alanine aminotransferase（ALT）in serum of lambs in all groups（P> 0.05）. In con⁃ clusion,under this experiment condiions,dietary supplementation of 0.04% pine needle essential oil could significantly improve the growth performance and nutrient apparent digestibility of lambs,there were no significant effects on serum biochemical indices of lambs.
Key Words：
Pine needle essential oil;Growth performance;Nutrient digestibility;Serum biochemical indices
