Effects of anise, clove and thyme essential oils supplementation on rumen fermentation, blood metabolites, milk yield and milk composition in lactating goats

Abstract The present study evaluated the effects of essential oil (EO) from anise (AO), clove (CO) and thyme (TO) on the performance of lactating Shame goats. Eight lactating Shame goats with average body weight 34.90 ± 0.9 kg and 3 years old were randomly assigned to four treatments in a duplicated 4 × 4 Latin square design, with four periods of 22 days. In each period, the goats were adapted to the treatments for 15 days and the remaining 7 days was used for sample collection. Goats were fed a basal diet without supplementation (control) or supplemented with anise (AO), thyme (TO) or clove (CO) at a daily dose of 2 ml/head/d. Feed intake was not affected by EO supplementations. Digestibility of organic matter, ether extract and acid detergent fibre was higher (P