Effect of Seidelitzia rosmarinus Decoction on Productive and Reproductive Performance of Fresh Holstein Dairy Cows

Introduction: Recently, herbal additives have attracted interest for research due to their positive effects on animal health and production. The effects of herbal derived feed additives to their effects on rumen fermentation, gut microflora, immune system and the overall animal performance have been studied extensively and the observed results have been attributed to their antimicrobial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune regulatory and metabolic effects. Seidelitzia romarinus is one of the medicinal plants that has been used as forage in animal feeding for a long time. Although the nutritional values of halophytes such as S. rosmarinus are relatively good, they make palatable forage when mixed with other pasture plants. In addition, S. rosmarinus has some medicinal effects and used for the treatment of some diseases based on its antimicrobial and anti-oxidative effects. In traditional medicine, S. rosmarinus had been used extensively to attenuate the uterus problems after parturition especially for metritis prevention and treatment. Due to lack of any scientific evidences on the effects of S. rosmarinus on productive and reproductive performance of fresh cows, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Seidelitzia rosmarinus decoction on production and reproduction performance of fresh Holstein dairy cows.Materials and Methods: One hundred post-parturient Holstein dairy cows were allocated randomly to experimental treatments from their parturition day in a completely randomized design. The experimental groups were 1) control cows and 2) the cows that received the decoction of 500 grams S. rosmarinus for first 3 days after parturition. Milk yield and composition were recorded monthly for five months after parturition. Reproductive performance including conception rate, service per conception and metritis incidence were recorded for three months after parturition. In addition, a blood sampling was done from all cows on day 12 after parturition. All animals were examined at 3-week intervals by rectal palpation until spontaneous estrus. Artificial insemination (AI) was performed by an experienced inseminator with frozen–thawed semen 12 to 18 hours after observed standing estrus and pregnancy was determined using ultrasonography between day 40 and 48 after insemination.Results and Discussion: Milk production and composition of cows were not affected significantly by drinking S. rosmarinus decoction. The decoction of S. rosmarinus had positive