Comparative clinico-pathology and haemato-biochemistry responses in sheep fed with fresh and ensiled Brachiaria decumbens

Over 80% of Malaysia's native grasslands include Brachiaria decumbens, which serves as primary feed for ruminants. Despite possessing good forage potential, there were cases reported regarding its toxicity to animals, especially sheep. The objective of this study is to assess the clinical signs, morphological features, hematology, and biochemistry effects of including ensiled B. decumbens into the diet of sheep raised under tropical climates. Eighteen Dorper cross sheep were randomly allocated to three treatments and placed in individual metabolic cages. The study applied a diet with a ratio of 70:30 roughage and concentrate, consisting of three different roughage treatments. These treatments included fresh Pennisetum purpureum (T1), fresh B. decumbens (T2), and ensiled B. decumbens (T3). Throughout 98 days of the experiment, the temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, rumen motility and ocular mucous membrane were gathered and observed weekly, while blood samples were taken on day 30, 60 and 90 of the experiment. All 18 sheep were slaughtered at the end of study, and the organs were collected for organ morphometric, gross morphology, and histological purposes. According to the results, there were significant differences (p<0.05) in the body weight and mucous membranes of the sheep across different feeding groups. T3 sheep fed with ensiled B. decumbens reported a significant (p<0.05) increase in body weight compared to T2 and control group. During the last 21 days of the trial, T2 sheep also had pale ocular mucous membranes. The hematological results indicate a significant difference (p<0.05) in sheep fed with ensiled B. decumbens compared to T2, except for red blood cells, white blood cells, and plasma protein levels. Similarly, there were also significances (p<0.05) in the biochemistry results of T3 sheep showing no effects towards the liver and kidney function when compared with T2 sheep. In addition, pathology reported the significance (p<0.05) of both the organ's width and weight, displaying lower values in T3 sheep. Histologically, sheep fed with fresh B. decumbens displayed significance (p<0.05) on the lesion scoring, generally showing mild to moderate lesions within several organs namely the lung, liver, kidney, jejunum, and ileum, while T3 showed an overall absence of lesions. Feeding ruminants ensiled B. decumbens is established to be significantly advantageous than feeding a diet of fresh B. decumbens, as evidenced by the overall health performance of the sheep.

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