Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Reclamation of Astragalus By-Product through Dietary Inclusion in Ruminant Diets: Effects on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Rumen Fermentation, Blood Biochemical Parameters, and Humoral Immune Response in Sheep

Table 2

Growth performance and apparent nutrient digestibility of sheep fed diets supplemented with different levels of dietary Astragalus by-product.


Items¹	Dietary treatments²			SEM	value
Items¹	Control	10% ABP	15% ABP	SEM	Diet	Linear	Quadratic

Growth performance
ADG (kg/d)	0.12	0.13	0.13	0.005	0.771	0.620	0.637
ADFI (kg/d)	1.48	1.56	1.57	0.024	0.253	0.162	0.423
FCR	12.41	11.95	12.47	0.500	0.911	0.969	0.674

Apparent nutrient digestibility (%)
OM	49.62	37.73	40.92	2.392	0.086	0.124	0.111
CP	70.58	65.70	67.44	0.988	0.099	0.179	0.096
EE	55.56^b	24.50^c	72.32^a	5.831	<0.001	0.013	<0.001
ADF	45.42	30.90	39.32	2.970	0.110	0.377	0.062
NDF	69.40^a	54.78^b	56.31^b	2.370	0.005	0.008	0.034

^a,b,cMeans within a row with different subscripts differ when ; ¹ADG, average daily gain; ADFI, average daily feed intake; FCR, feed conversion ratio; OM, organic matter; CP, crude protein; EE, ether extract; ADF, acid detergent fibre; NDF, neutral detergent fibre; ²ABP, Astragalus by-product; SEM, standard error of the mean.