Effect of phytogenic additives on ruminal parameters, in vitro and in situ degradability in beef cattle

Technological advances, easily pursued by research on ruminant nutrition, can improve animal production, prevent nutritional disorders, and increase digestibility concomitantly with reducing ingestive discrepancies. This study aimed to investigate the inclusion of crude extract of Croton urucurana (Croton) or essential oils of cashew and castor bean on in vitro and in situ degradability of Tifton 85 hay and metabolic parameters in beef cattle. The experiment was conducted at the Biological Sciences Institute (ICB) and the Veterinary School of the Federal University of Goias, Brazil. The treatments were: Control, Monensin, Croton, and Blend (essential oil composed of cashew and castor bean). We used five replicates to evaluate ruminal parameters and dry matter degradability. Blend increased dry matter degradation, indicating that forage feeds last longer in the rumen and tend to be more degraded with Blend inclusion. The assessments of ad libitum ingestion of dry matter showed that monensin treatment reduced feed intake compared to control and Croton treatments. Our results suggest that the inclusion of Blend improves the degradability of dry matter in the diet and could be a strategy of choice in diets based on low-quality forage.