Effects of Dietary SupplementationwithMarjoramand Rosemary Powders and TheirMixture on SerumAST, ALT, and Glutathione Levels in Awassi Lambs

• Taha Yaseen Muhammad Al-Jaf¹ , Aslam Saud Alwan Al-Naseri

  Author

This study was conducted for a period of 70 days, preceded by a 15-day preliminary period to adapt the lambs to the concentrate diet. The experiment was divided into two periods (days 0–35 and days 36–70, respectively). Sixteen (16) Awassi lambs aged 4–5 months, with an average initial weight of 26.062 ± 2.25 kg, were used in the trial. The lambs were divided into four groups (four lambs per group), and the treatments were randomly assigned as follows:

•           T1: Control diet

•           T2: Addition of 2.5% dried marjoram per 100 kg

•           T3: Addition of 1% dried rosemary per 100 kg

•           T4: Addition of a mixture of 1.25% dried marjoram and 0.5% dried rosemary per 100 kg

The lambs in the above treatments were fed a concentrate feed at 3% of live body weight on a dry matter basis, along with 150 g/day/lamb of wheat straw. Animals were weighed weekly to adjust the provided feed quantity according to the new weight.

Treatments T2 and T4 recorded a significant decrease (P ≤ 0.05) in AST enzyme activity on day 35, after which their activity rose significantly (P ≤ 0.05) to lead the results on day 70. No significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) were observed in ALT enzyme activity on day 35, whereas T4 and T2 significantly excelled (P ≤ 0.05) on day 70, with T3 exhibiting the significantly lowest activity (P ≤ 0.05). Treatments showed no significant differences in glutathione (GSH) concentration on day 35, while T3 recorded the significantly highest concentration (P ≤ 0.05) on day 70.

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