فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

The aim of this experiment was to investigate rumen fermentation and some blood parameters of dromedary camels fed with C 3 and C 4 forage. Four fistulated dromedary adult camels were fed with diets as a changeover design, 30 days for each period. The diets included alfalfa hay + wheat straw (C 3 forage) and atriplex+ suaeda + seidlitzia (C 4 forage). At the end of the experiment, rumen and blood parameters, gas production of wheat straw and atriplex as a 2 × 2 factorial experiment were determined. The highest blood glucose and urea nitrogen levels were found for camels fed with C 3 forage, 2 hr after feeding ( p < 0.05). The maximum NH 3 -N concentration in the rumen was for diets C 3 and C 4 , 2 and 4 hr after feeding ( p < 0.05). The lowest rumen pH was observed for C 3 diet at 2 and 4 hr and for C 4 diet at 4 and 8 hr after feeding. The activity of rumen carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase) and microcrystalline cellulase (MCCase) enzymes was the highest for C 3 and C 4 diets, 8 hr after feeding, however, during feeding the enzyme activity in C 4 was higher than that of 2 hr ( p < 0.05). The rumen volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations were significantly higher in camels fed C 3 forage in comparison with C 4 ( p < 0.05). The results showed that the gas production potential was significantly higher in treatments containing atriplex, however, the gas production rate was higher in treatment containing wheat straw ( p < 0.05). The results suggested that for camels maintained in closed systems, the replacement of C 3 forages instead of C 4 could be possible and useful.