Influence of dietary supplementation of garlic (Allium sativum L.) extract on cecal productions of total gas, carbon dioxide and fermentation profiles in rabbits

Abstract

The aim of this present study was to evaluate the effect of rabbit diets supplemented with garlic (Allium sativum L.) extract on in vitro cecal gas production (GP), carbon dioxide (CO2) productions and some cecal fermentation parameters. Garlic extracts were prepared at 0.125 g/mL and administered at four different doses: 0 (control without garlic extract), 0.6, 1.2 and 1.8 mL extract/g dry matter (DM). The in vitro gas production was measured at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 36, 48, 60 and 72 h incubation. The results showed quadratic increase in asymptotic GP (P = 0.027) and rate of GP (P = 0.037) but no linear or quadratic effects (P[0.05) was observed for initial delay before GP. However, inclusion of garlic extracts at 0.6 and 1.2 mL extract doses/g DM increased asymptotic GP compared to control. In in vitro gas yield (GY), there were quadratic effects for GP24 (P = 0.043) and GP48 (P = 0.029) incubation times. There were no linear and quadratic effects (P[0.05) in in vitro CO2 production for all the incubation times. However, the dose of 1.2 mL DM had the highest in vitro CO2 production at 12 h, 24 h and 48 h incubations. The results suggest that 1.2 mL/g DM garlic extract was the most effective to improve rabbit cecal fermentation compared with the other tested doses.