Vet World   Vol.17   November-2024  Article - 25 

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(11): 2659-2666

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.2659-2666

Effects of dietary garlic (Allium sativum) and papaya (Carica papaya) leaf powder on production performance, ruminal methanogen levels, gut parameters, and meat quality in goats

Qurrat-Ul-Ain1, Imtiaz Rabbani1, Muhammad Afzal Rashid2, Muhammad Shahbaz Yousaf1, Wasim Shehzad3, and Habib Rehman1
1. Department of Physiology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, 54000, Lahore, Pakistan.
2. Department of Animal Nutrition, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, 54000, Lahore, Pakistan.
3. Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, 54000, Lahore, Pakistan. 

Background and Aim: Several approaches have been employed to mitigate methane emissions from livestock, with varied results. This study evaluated the effects of shade-dried ground garlic leaf (GL) powder and papaya leaf (PL) powder as crop waste on feed intake, growth performance, ruminal microbial counts, gut epithelial barrier functions, and meat quality in goats. 

Materials and Methods: Forty male adult Beetal goats were randomly divided into five treatment groups: (1) Control (basal diet only); (2) basal diet supplemented with 6% bromodichloromethane (BCM); (3) basal diet supplemented with 30% GL powder; (4) basal diet supplemented with 26% PL powder; and (5) basal diet supplemented with 30% GL powder and 26% PL powder (GP). 

Results: Average weight gain, feed conversion ratio, fecal score, and albumin improved in the GP. Aspartate transferase increased significantly in BCM, GL, and PL and was insignificant in the GP group compared with the C group. There was a 13% decrease in methanogen count in PL compared with C, but this difference was not significant between BCM and GP. Ruminal bacteria and protozoa were lowest in GL. Ruminal papilla height and surface area increased in the supplemented groups compared with C (p < 0.05). In vitro experiments using isolated ruminal epithelia revealed a 39% increase in short-circuit current in GP compared with C (p < 0.05). For meat parameters, the pH 24 h decreased significantly in GL compared to BCM. 

Conclusion: Dietary supplementations with GL and PL alone or in combination improved growth parameters and gut performance and reduced rumen methanogen levels without altering meat quality parameters. Proper diet formulation and further research on other ruminants may help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. 

Keywords: Beetal goat, growth performance, methane emissions, short-circuit current.


How to cite this article: Qurrat-Ul-Ain, Rabbani I, Rashid MA, Yousaf MS, Shehzad W, and Rehman H (2024) Effects of dietary garlic (Allium sativum) and papaya (Carica papaya) leaf powder on production performance, ruminal methanogen levels, gut parameters, and meat quality in goats, Veterinary World, 17(11): 2659-2666.

Received: 2024-08-24    Accepted: 2024-10-21    Published online: 2024-11-28

Corresponding author: Imtiaz Rabbani    E-mail: imtiaz.rabbani@uvas.edu.pk

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.2659-2666

Copyright: Ul-Ain, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.