Essential oils in the diet of young bulls: Effect on animal temperament.

Ornaghi, M.G. ; Torrecilhas, J.A. ; Passetti, R.A.C. ; Mottin, C. ; Guerrero, A. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Eiras, C.E. ; Rivaroli, D.C. ; Ramos, T.R. ; Prado, I.N.

Resumen: Plant extracts and essential oils can be alternative products to antibiotics, because several plants produce secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties. Additionally, they may act on the olfactory system, which sends signals to the central nervous system releasing endorphins that may affect the feeling of an animal''s welfare while altering an animal''s temperament. This study was conducted to evaluate the animal temperament of 40 young crossbred bulls (one-half Brown Swiss and one-half Nellore) 10 ± 2.2 mo old with an average BW of 219 ± 11.7 kg. Young bulls were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 diets: control, which had no clove or cinnamon; clove leaf included to supply 3, 500 mg/animal per day; clove leaf included to supply 7, 000 mg/animal per day; essential oil of leaf cinnamon to supply 3, 500 mg/animal per day; or essential oil of leaf cinnamon to supply 7, 000 mg/animal per day. The animal temperament was evaluated by calculating the chute score, exit score, and temperament score for periods (each 28 d during 6 periods) and among diets. The data were submitted to an ANOVA using GLM procedures with SAS version 9.0. The diet and period were considered fixed effects, whereas the animals were considered a random effect. Differences between means were evaluated using a Tukey test of 5% of significance. The addition of clove or cinnamon essential oils did not alter (P > 0.05) animal temperament. The analysis of temperament score (P = 0.55), chute score (P = 0.71), and exit score (P = 0.06) did not show significant differences among the diets. The exit score was similar among the 6 periods (1.57, 1.80, 2.98, 2.02, 2.73, and 2.66, respectively); however, chute score and temperament score were greater (P < 0.001) in the first period compared with other periods. The values for chute score were 1.85, 1.40, 1.35, 1.33, 1.20, 1.17, respectively, and the values for temperament score were 2.31, 1.81, 1.67, 1.69, 1.50, and 1.56, respectively, for periods 1 to 6. The results of this study suggest that clove and cinnamon essential oils can be added as an additive in high-grain finished diets without changing the animal temperament.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.2527/asasann.2017.018

Año: 2017

Publicado en: JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE 95 (2017), 9-9
ISSN: 0021-8812

Factor impacto JCR: 1.711 (2017)

Categ. JCR: AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE rank: 12 / 59 = 0.203 (2017) - Q1 - T1

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.848 - Animal Science and Zoology (Q1) - Food Science (Q1) - Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q2) - Genetics (Q3)

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Producción Animal (Dpto. Produc.Animal Cienc.Ali.)