Nutritive value and ruminal degradation of seven Chinese herbs as forage for Tan sheep.

Tan sheep is an indigenous ovine breed of China known for its high meat quality and pleasing taste. Seven herbs of traditional Chinese medicine, namely, , and are commonly grazed by Tan sheep. It has been widely believed that these herbs are of high nutritive value, which may significantly contribute to the high meat quality and distinct flavor of Tan sheep. However, the nutritive values of these herbs have not been evaluated to date. In this study, samples of the seven herbs were collected from the steppe of Yanchi County of Ningxia Autonomous Region of China. The dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), ash (Ash), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of these herbs were measured using locally cultivated alfalfa as the standard forage. Digestion of the dry matter, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and crude protein in the rumen of Tan sheep was examined using the nylon bag method, in order to evaluate their feeding nutritional value. Our results show that all the seven herbs meet the nutritional needs of ruminants based on the standard forage alfalfa. However, , and have higher nutritive value than ( < 0.05). According to the ruminal degradation rates of dry matter, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and crude protein, the nutritive value of , and is higher than that of , and ( < 0.05). The overall nutritive value of is the highest among the seven herbs and therefore is recommended to better meet the nutritional needs of Tan sheep.