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Effect of Sapindus mukorossi as herbal feed additive for ruminants

N. Sultana¹*, K. S. Huque² and A. R. Alimon¹

¹Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor
²Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2012 15(1): 37-44

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Sapindus mukorossi, a herbal plant source of saponin, was tested for its effects on defaunation, ruminal ammonia production and subsequent impact on growth performance of cattle. Twelve bulls were equally divided into two groups: Control group fed ad libitum with urea-molasses straw supplemented with concentrate mixture (UMS) and Treated group fed with UMS and S.mukorossi herbal additive for growth performance test. Two rumen fistulated bulls about 400 kg live weight were used to determine the degradability of pericarps of S. mukorrosi. There was no significant difference in final live weight in the Control and Treated groups (160.7 kg vs 174.0 kg, respectively) or in average daily live weight gain (483.2g vs 612.0g/head, respectively). The pericarps of S. mukorossi fruits had defaunating effects but without hampering intake and digestibility of nutrients (especially of fiber) and N balance in cattle. Moreover, Sapindus mukorossi reduced the NH3-N concentration by maintaining an acceptable range for optimum microbial fermentation in the rumen, which might assure the better utilization of N in lower gut. However, these effects did not produce any significant effect on growth of the animals.