The effect of replacing alfalfa hay and wheat straw with Moringa oleifera leaves on in vitro digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters and antioxidant capacity

Nasrabadi, Mahdi; Ghanbarian, Zahra

doi:10.22059/jap.2025.393585.623841

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mahdi Nasrabadi ¹
Zahra Ghanbarian ²

¹ Corresponding Author, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bu-Ali Sina, Hamedan, Iran E-mail: m.nasrabadi@agr.basu.ac.ir

² Expert of Chaltasian Agri.-Animal Production Complex, Varamin, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: zahra.ghanbarian95@alum.semnan.ac.ir

https://doi.org/10.22059/jap.2025.393585.623841

Abstract

Objective: Limited access to high-quality forages such as alfalfa is a major challenge in improving production effeciency in Iran's livestock industry. Despite efforts in recent years to identify and replace cost-effective plant species, no suitable and reliable alternative plant has been introduced so far. This study was designed and conducted to evaluate the potential of Moringa oleifera leaves (MOL) as an alternative forage source. For this purpose, the chemical composition of MOL was determined, and the effect of including different levels of this plant in the diet on in vitro digestibility and fermentation parameters was investigated.
Methods: The chemical composition of MOL and alfalfa hay (Medicago sativa) was determined using standard methods. Subsequently, the experimental diets were formulated with four levels of MOL inclusion (0, 15, 30, and 45% of dietary DM) to meet the requirements of growing sheep, balanced with a 55:45 forage to concentrate ratio. Dry matter and organic matter digestibility were measured using the two-stage procedure of Tilley and Terry method, and other parameters such as gas production, microbial biomass production, ammonia-N and volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations, antioxidant capacity, and protozoa population were evaluated using the gas production technique.
Results: The results indicated that MOL had higher crude protein (CP), ash, ether extract (EE), calcium, and phosphorus, and lower cell NDF, ADF, and lignin compared to alfalfa hay (P<0.05), so that the CP, ash, and EE of MOL were 48.3%, 25.8%, and 33.3% higher than those of alfalfa, respectively. The amounts of non-fibrous carbohydrates and metabolizable energy (ME) of the two plants did not differ. In diets containing MOL, digestibility, ME, gas production volume, truly degraded substrate, and microbial biomass production increased linearly (P<0.05), while partitioning factor and microbial biomass production efficiency did not change. Also, the use of MOL in the diet significantly increased the concentration of ruminal VFA and antioxidant capacity and reduced the concentration of rumen ammonia-N (P<0.05), while the mentioned plant had no effect on pH and the ratio of VFA. On the other hand, the inclusion of MOL in the diet caused a significant reduction in the total population and subfamilies of protozoa (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, Moringa oleifera leaves can be considered as a potential alternative for the forage part of the diet and can be recommended up to 45% of the diet, with the aim of meeting livestock nutritional requirements, improve ruminal fermentation and antioxidant status. However, in vivo studies are needed to further explore the performance effects of Moringa oleifera leaves.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Animal Production, Print ISSN: 2008-6776., Online ISSN: 2382-994X

The effect of replacing alfalfa hay and wheat straw with Moringa oleifera leaves on in vitro digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters and antioxidant capacity

References

References

Volume 27, Issue 3
October 2025
Pages 321-333

The effect of replacing alfalfa hay and wheat straw with Moringa oleifera leaves on in vitro digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters and antioxidant capacity

References

References

Volume 27, Issue 3October 2025Pages 321-333

Volume 27, Issue 3
October 2025
Pages 321-333