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 3

PH value and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration in ruminal fluid of sheep fed diets supplemented with different levels of dietary Astragalus by-product.

Items	Dietary treatments^1			SEM	value
	Control	10% ABP	15% ABP		Diet	Linear	Quadratic
Rumen pH	5.83^b	6.47^a	6.51^a	0.114	<0.001	<0.001	0.055
Acetic acid (mmol/L)	59.29^a	40.72^b	36.7^b	3.877	0.007	0.003	0.134
Propionic acid (mmol/L)	22.58^a	11.2^b	11.25^b	1.999	0.001	0.001	0.011
Butyric acid (mmol/L)	8.91	6.81	5.67	0.606	0.059	0.023	0.627
Acetic/propionic acid	2.63^c	3.64^a	3.27^b	0.151	<0.001	0.001	<0.001
NH3-N (mg/dL)	3.51^c	4.38^b	7.13^a	0.329	<0.001	<0.001	0.003

^a,b,cMeans within a row with different subscripts differ when ; ¹ABP, Astragalus by-product; SEM, standard error of the mean.