Effect of Palm Kernel Meal and Malic Acid on Rumen Characteristics of Growing Naemi Lambs Fed Total Mixed Ration

Mutassim M Abdelrahman; Ibrahim Alhidary; Hani H Albaadani; Mohsen Alobre; Rifat Ullah Khan; Riyadh S Aljumaah

doi:10.3390/ani9070408

Effect of Palm Kernel Meal and Malic Acid on Rumen Characteristics of Growing Naemi Lambs Fed Total Mixed Ration

Animals (Basel). 2019 Jul 1;9(7):408. doi: 10.3390/ani9070408.

Authors

Mutassim M Abdelrahman¹, Ibrahim Alhidary¹, Hani H Albaadani¹, Mohsen Alobre¹, Rifat Ullah Khan², Riyadh S Aljumaah³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Animal Health, Faculty of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Sciences, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Peshawar 25000, Pakistan.
³ Department of Animal Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. ariyadh@ksu.edu.sa.

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of malic acid and 20% palm kernel meal (PKM) on ruminal characteristics. A total of 32 growing lambs were randomly distributed into control (barley and alfalfa ha), total mixed ration (T1), TMR + 20% PKM (T2), TMR + PKC 20% + 4 mL/day malic acids (T3). Lambs were fed these diets ad libitum for 84 days. The results showed that propionic acid in the rumen fluid increased significantly (p < 0.05) in T1 and T3. Lactic acid concentration of rumen fluid increased significantly (p < 0.05) in T2 while the pH increased significantly. The coloration of rumen and reticulum was improved in T3. In addition, most of the histomorphological features were higher in T3 and T2. We concluded that the addition of malic acid supplementation to lambs fed PKC caused a significant improvement in the rumen pH and decreased lactic acid concentration in growing Naemi lambs.

Keywords: complete feed; growing lambs; organic acids; palm kernel cake; rumen characteristics.