Effects of Chinese herbal medicine on plasma glucose, protein and energy metabolism in sheep

Table 2 Effects of Chinese herbal medicine on body weight gain and ruminal fermentation characteristics in sheep

Items	MH-diet	CHM-diet	SEM	P-value
BW gain, g/day	16	25	6	0.03
pH	6.99	6.84	0.04	0.02
NH₃, mmol/L	10.7	11.2	0.6	0.65
Total VFA, mmol/L	86.2	92.8	3.2	0.05
Acetate, mmol/L	60.5	64.5	2.1	0.04
Propionate, mmol/L	17.2	19.1	0.9	0.35
Iso-butyrate, mmol/L	0.6	0.7	0.01	0.15
Butyrate, mmol/L	6.5	7.2	0.3	0.34
Iso-valerate, mmol/L	0.8	0.9	0.02	0.21
Valerate, mmol/L	0.5	0.5	0.01	0.12

MH-diet = mixed hay of orchardgrass and reed canarygrass; CHM-diet = MH-diet supplemented with 2% of Chinese herbal medicine mixture; SEM = standard error of the mean; BW = body weight; VFA = volatile fatty acids.

ISSN: 2049-1891