EFFECT OF MORINGA OLEIFERA SEED OIL AS NATURAL FEED SUPPLEMENT ON THE PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF LACTATING EWES

Moringa seed oil (MSO) was used as a feed additive to evaluate its potential to manipulate rumen fermentation and productive performance in lactating Ossimi ewes. Cold extracted MSO was supplemented at four different levels (1, 2, 3, and 4%) in diet using in vitro batch culture system for optimizing best supplementation level for sheep. Results of in vitro study revealed non-significant (P>0.05) effect of MSO on true dry matter degradability (TDMD) up to 3% inclusion level, however, decrease in TDMD was observed by 4% MSO supplementation as compared to control and other treatment groups. Accumulated gas production was significantly (P 0.05) affected by treatment. Our study revealed that MSO could be used as a natural fat supplement to meet energy requirements of lactating sheep. Moreover, antioxidants and other bioactive compounds, present in MSO can effectively modulate rumen fermentation which makes it a potential alternative of chemical feed additives (especially antibiotics) to improve feed digestibility and utilization for increasing animal productivity.