Effect of herbs as feed additive on in vitro and in sacco dry matter digestibility of paddy straw

Abstract

Herbs, viz. Asparagus racemosus (shatawar),Hemidesmus indicus (sugandhi), lcllllocarpusjhlctescelles (kali dudhi), Phaseolus tribolosis (mudgaparni), Bacopa monneiri (bra/ulli), Cl)lptolepis buchanani (dudhibel), Euphorbia hirta (badi dudhi) and Urtica dioica (bichchu) collected from hills and tarai region nearby Pantnagar, were evaluated as feed additive in terms of in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and in sacco dry matter digestibility (ISDMD) with ground paddy straw as substrate. Herbs were mixed with ground paddy straw at 5% level for the determination of IVDMD and ISDMD at 48 and 72 h. IVDMD of paddy straw was significantly improved when mixed with Asparagus racemosus (40.81 %) followed by Euphorbia hirta (40.63%) and Urtica dioica (39.97%) herbs at 48 h of incubation whereas, at 72 h IVDMD was significantly higher with Cryptolepis buchanani (47.87%) and Urtica dioica (48.69%) than with other herbs. The IVDMD ofpaddy straw was significantly higher when mixed with ethanol extract ofAsparagus racemosus (41.62%), Cryptolepis buchanani (40.73%), Euphorbia hirta (39.47%) and Urtica dioica (41.15%). The ISDMD ofpaddy straw was also significantly higher (P<0.05) with Asparagus racemsus (59.15%) and Bacopa monnieri (60.64%) at 72 h of incubation, however, no significant improvement on ISDMD was noticed at 48 h because of addition of herbs. The study revealed that Asparagus recemosus, Euphorbia hirta, Cryptolepis buchanani, Urtica dioica and Bacopa monneiri herbs can be incorporated in the diet of ruminants as feed additive for better utilization of nutrients.'