Effect of herbal feed additives on milk performance and health status of dairy goats

Common nettle Urtica dioica L. (leaves): 20%;
Common agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria (dried flowering shoot tips) 10%;
Caraway Carum carvi (fruit) 10%;
Coriander Coriandrum sativum (fruit) 15%;
Fenugreek Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (seeds) 20%;
Plantain Plantago lanceolata L. (herb) 20%;
Purple willow Salix purpurea (bark) 5%.

Composed of nine herbs

Common nettle Urtica dioica L. (leaves): 10%;
Common agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria (herb – dried flowering shoot tips) 10%;
Fennel Foeniculum vulgare (fruit) 15%;
Coriander Coriandrum sativum (fruit) 15%;
Fenugreek Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (seeds) 10%;
Peppermint Mentha piperita (leaves) 16%;
Chamomile Matricaria chamomilla L. (flower clusters) 4%;
Milk thistle Silybum marianum (endosperm) 4%;
Thyme Thymus vulgaris (leaves) 16%.

Table 2.

Composition of the diet offered to the studied dairy goats

	Component	% diet dry matter
Incorporated in total mixed ration	Maize silage	15.6
	Grass hay silage	21.6
	Brewers’ grain silage	7.8
	Concentrate mixture (triticale, corn grain, lupine grain, rapeseed meal and sunflower meal)	26.4
	Meadow hay	10.3
	Dried sugar beet pulp	4.4
	Barley straw	3.3
Not in total mixed ration	Experimental concentrate	10.6
	Chemical composition	g/kg dry matter
	Organic matter	451
	Crude protein	163
	Acid detergent fibre	267
	Neutral detergent fibre	401

Table 3.

The influence of herbal supplement dietary group and lactation stage (time) on dairy goat milk yield, composition, some processing parameters and somatic cell count (SCC)

Parameter	Mean	Group					Time (week)				SE	Group	Time	Group × Time
Parameter	Mean	7/20 g	7/40 g	9/20 g	9/40 g	CTR	4	8	12	16	SE	Group	P-value
Milk yield (kg/d)	2.75	2.61	2.63	2.69	2.93	2.89	2.93^a	2.96^a	2.80^a	2.31^b	0.05	0.6402	0.0001	0.0003
Fat corrected milk (kg/d)	2.90	2.80	2.83	2.83	3.08	2.95	3.02^a	3.32^b	2.79^d	2.46^c	0.05	0.8030	0.0001	0.0037
Fat (%)	4.06	4.32^a	4.19^ab	3.99^ab	4.10^ab	3.68^b	3.84^a	4.68^b	3.53^d	4.17^c	0.05	0.0323	0.0001	0.3906
Protein (%)	3.38	3.29	3.45	3.35	3.48	3.32	3.37^a	3.55^b	3.16^c	3.44^a	0.02	0.3395	0.0001	0.2085
Lactose (%)	4.39	4.32	4.41	4.38	4.38	4.46	4.48^a	4.33^b	4.39^b	4.36^b	0.01	0.2027	0.0001	0.7794
Total solids (%)	12.66	12.73	12.90	12.55	12.82	12.28	12.59^a	13.42^b	11.91^c	12.72^a	0.07	0.3309	0.0001	0.5426
Solids not fat (%)	8.60	8.41	8.71	8.57	8.72	8.60	8.74^a	8.74^a	8.37^c	8.55^b	0.03	0.2628	0.0001	0.6030
fat : protein ratio	1.20	1.31^a	1.22^a	1.19^b	1.17^b	1.11^b	1.14^a	1.32^b	1.12^a	1.21^c	0.01	0.0026	0.0001	0.3325
FPD (°C)	0.563	0.563	0.561	0.563	0.563	0.564	0.563^ab	0.560^a	0.565^c	0.563^b	0.001	0.7198	0.0031	0.2553
Milk urea (mg/L)	316	299	317	318	316	330	313^a	358^b	275^c	317^a	3	0.0628	0.0001	0.3474
Casein (%)	2.55	2.47	2.62	2.54	2.64	2.51	2.56^a	2.69^b	2.39	2.58^a	0.02	0.3452	0.0001	0.2470
Acidity pH	6.60	6.59^ab	6.59^ab	6.58^b	6.57^b	6.67^a	6.65^a	6.60^b	6.54^d	6.61^bc	0.01	0.0074	0.0001	0.0490
SCC (log10 cell/mL)	5.72	5.70	5.70	5.72	5.73	5.72	5.72^a	5.76^a	5.62^b	5.77^a	0.01	0.9313	0.0001	0.2634

1a,b – values within a row with different superscript letters differ significantly at P-value ≤ 0.05

Table 4.

Haematological and biochemical parameters of blood in the studied herbally supplemented dietary groups of dairy goats

	Mean	Group					SE	P-value	Reference range
	Mean	7/20 g	7/40 g	9/20 g	9/40 g	CTR	SE	P-value	Reference range
Haematological parameters
RBC (T/L)	12.38	12.37	12.06	11.82	12.98	12.66	0.20	0.3715	8–18*
HGB (g/dL)	9.32	9.28	9.18	9.05	9.46	9.65	0.11	0.4895	8–12*
HCT (%)	24.10	24.88^a	23.67^ab	22.68^b	24.37^a	24.89^a	0.27	0.0402	22–28*
MCV (fl)	19.96	20.24	20.08	19.98	19.81	19.69	0.18	0.8840	16–25*
MCH (p/g)	7.63	7.54	7.62	7.70	7.68	7.63	0.07	0.9653	5.2–8*
MCHC (g/dL)	38.01	37.34	38.75	38.55	38.30	37.10	0.41	0.6479	30–36*
PLT (G/L)	305.20	308.00	279.17	330.00	311.25	297.58	8.49	0.4335	160–490**
RDW-CV %	28.10	27.79	27.95	27.58	28.55	28.64	0.18	0.2546
WBC (G/L)	11.27	10.40	10.73	11.86	11.47	11.88	0.34	0.5573	4–13*
Neutrophils (%)	56.11	54.27	58.84	57.02	54.92	55.51	1.45	0.8738	30–48*
Neutrophils (G/L)	6.40	5.69	6.32	6.84	6.47	6.68	0.28	0.7514
Lymphocyte (%)	38.25	38.85	34.71	37.68	40.47	39.55	1.39	0.7362	50–70*
Lymphocyte (G/L)	4.24	3.97	3.72	4.39	4.48	4.63	0.17	0.4408
Monocyte (%)	1.54	1.90	1.55	1.22	1.51	1.53	0.13	0.5782	0–4*
Monocyte (G/L)	0.17	0.20	0.17	0.14	0.15	0.18	0.02	0.8211
Eosinophils (%)	3.43	4.09	4.08	3.30	3.08	2.60	0.31	0.4863	1–8*
Eosinophils G/L)	0.37	0.45	0.43	0.39	0.28	0.29	0.04	0.4659
Basophils (%)	0.81	0.90	0.76	0.79	0.78	0.82	0.04	0.8006	0–1*
Biochemical parameters
Cholesterol (mg/dL)	81.17	75.92	85.33	80.75	80.08	83.75	2.49	0.8001	80–115**
Triglycerydes (mg/dL)	19.35	18.00^ab	20.75^ab	22.83^a	15.67^b	19.50^ab	0.73	0.0195	16–56**
LDL Cholesterol (mg/dL)	24.95	23.53	24.18	26.64	23.41	26.98	1.11	0.7569	21–58**
HDL Cholesterol (mg/dL)	61.30	57.09	66.57	57.99	61.72	63.15	2.05	0.5956	48–83**
Glucose (mg/dL)	51.50	49.42	50.75	55.00	52.42	49.92	0.91	0.2969	50–75*

1 7/20 g and 7/40 g – groups supplemented with seven herbs at 20 or 40 g/animal/day; 9/20 g and 9/40 g – groups supplemented with nine herbs at 20 or 40 g/animal/day; CTR – control group; SE – standard error; RBC – red blood cell count; HGB – haemoglobin concentration; HCT – haematocrit; MCV – mean corpuscular volume; MCH – mean corpuscular haemoglobin; MCHC – mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration; PLT – platelet count; RDW-CV – red blood cell distribution width coefficient of variation; WBC – white blood cell count; HDL – high-density lipoprotein; LDL – low-density lipoprotein. Values within a row with different superscript letters differ significantly at P-value ≤ 0.05. Reference range

1* – according to Aiello and Moses (1);

1** – according to Dutra et al. (7)

Table 5.

Acute-phase proteins in the blood plasma of the studied herbally supplemented dietary groups of dairy goats

Group	Hp (g/L)	SAA (mg/L)
7/20 g	Median = 0.325	Median = 0
	IQR = 0.298–0.358	IQR = 0–0
	Range = 0.270–0.847	Range= 0–0
7/40 g	Median = 0.278	Median = 0
	IQR = 0.234–0.439	IQR = 0–1.890
	Range = 0.156–0.518	Range = 0–58.21
9/20 g	Median = 0.220	Median = 0
	IQR = 0.203–0.259	IQR = 0–0
	Range = 0.127–0.359	Range = 0–2.36
9/40 g	Median = 0.356	Median = 0
	IQR = 0.244–0.591	IQR = 0–0.009
	Range = 0.130–1.734	Range = 0–27.16
CTR	Median = 0.138	Median = 0
	IQR = 0.100–0.306	IQR = 0–1.714
	Range = 0.081–3.097	Range = 0–197.6
Kruskal–Wallis H test P-value	0.010	0.195
Comparisons between control group (CTR) and the four other groups
Group	Dunn’s test P-value:
7/20 g	0.052	-
7/40 g	0.456	-
9/20 g	0.999	-
9/40 g	0.103	-

1 Hp – haptoglobin; SAA – serum amyloid A; 7/20 g and 7/40 g – groups supplemented with seven herbs at 20 or 40 g/animal/day; 9/20 g and 9/40 g – groups supplemented with nine herbs at 20 or 40 g/animal/day; IQR – interquartile range; Range – minimum–maximum

Table 6.

Percentages of herbally supplemented dairy goats (100% = 12 goats) with acute phase proteins in excess of the reference intervals (according to Heller and Johns (12))

Group	Hp (>1.242 g/L)	SAA > 2.050 mg/L
7/20 g	0	0
7/40 g	0	25.0
9/20 g	0	8.3
9/40 g	8.3	16.7
CTR	16.7	25.0
Maximum likelihood G-test P-value	0.190	0.197

Table 7.

Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients between acute phase proteins and haematological and biochemistry parameters in blood samples from herbally supplemented dairy goats

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2025-0021 | Journal eISSN: 2450-8608 (formerly 2300-3235)

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Language: English

Page range: 263 - 272

Submitted on: Oct 2, 2024

Accepted on: Mar 24, 2025

Published on: Apr 4, 2025

Published by: National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

dairy goats,

herbal feed additives,

milk,

haematological parameters,

acute phase proteins

Related subjects:

Life sciences,

Molecular biology,

Microbiology and virology,

Life sciences, other,

Medicine,

Veterinary medicine

© 2025 Jacek Antoni Wójtowski, Jan Pikul, Przemysław Mikołajczak, Michał Czopowicz, Jarosław Kaba, Joanna Foksowicz-Flaczyk, Ireneusz Antkowiak, Jarosław Pytlewski, Maria Markiewicz-Kęszycka, Daniel Stanisławski, published by National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 69 (2025): Issue 2 (June 2025)