Addition of wild thyme in the rations of Awassi lambs and its impact on nutrient digestion coefficients and some rumen and blood traits

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of incorporating wild thyme (Thymus vulgaris) into the diets of Awassi lambs on nutrient digestion coefficients, rumen fluid characteristics, and selected blood biochemical parameters. The study utilized four Awassi male lambs, approximately one-year-old, with an average body weight of 59.45 ± 3.71 kg. The experiment consisted of four dietary treatments in a digestion trial divided into four periods, each lasting 15 days (10 days for adaptation and 5 days for sample collection), totaling 60 days. A crossover design was employed, with the four lambs rotated across the treatments in each period.

The basal diet consisted of barley, wheat bran, soybean meal, and wheat straw, which was common to all treatments. Wild thyme was added to the four treatments at levels of 0, 5, 10, and 15 g/animal/day, respectively. The results indicated that the inclusion of wild thyme at varying levels significantly (P < 0.05) improved the digestion coefficients of dry matter (70.63, 72.17, 74.58, and 76.42%), organic matter (72.41, 74.88, 78.21, and 81.74%), crude protein (68.21, 69.08, 72.51, and 75.66%), ether extract (58.42, 61.88, 63.99, and 65.41%), acid detergent fiber (37.85, 43.77, 45.99, and 47.88%), and neutral detergent fiber (64.55, 65.62, 67.74, and 69.17%), bacterial and protozoal counts increased significantly (P < 0.05) with higher wild thyme levels. Also, no significant differences were detected in blood parameters. These findings suggest that wild thyme can enhance nutrient digestibility and rumen microbial activity without adversely affecting blood biochemical profiles in Awassi lambs.