الفهرس 
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Abstract
The experiment was carried out to study the influence of Lemongrass and Roselle supplementation in the diet of Saidi ewes. Twenty-eight ewes in the last month of pregnancy with an average body weight of 45±2 kg were assigned to 4 treatments groups (7 ewes of each group) for 75 days (15 before parturition and 60 days after parturition) using completely randomized block design. The treatments included: (1) control group (CON): received a ration consisted of concentrate mixture and wheat straw as 60:40 %, on dry matter (DM); (2) LG treatment group: the ewes fed control ration plus 4g dried Lemongrass /kg of concentrate mixture; (3) RO treatment group: the ewes fed control ration plus 4g dried Roselle/kg of concentrate mixture; and (4) LGRO treatment group: the ewes fed control ration plus 2g dried Lemongrass and 2 g dried Roselle /kg of concentrate mixture. Milk yield was recorded biweekly and milk samples were taken to analyze chemical composition. Rumen samples were collected to measure the pH, total VFA’s concentration and protozoal count. Lambs were weighed at birth and then once a week during four weeks of the experiment period and the daily weight gain (DWG) was calculated. Blood and feces samples were taken at the end of the trial to determine some of blood metabolites and parasitic number.
Results revealed that
1- Milk efficiency as fat corrected milk (FCM) and milk yield/DM intake did not affect significantly by feeding Lemongrass or Roselle treatments.
2- Milk yield tended to increase (P>0.05) in treated ewes.
3- Milk fat increased (P<0.05) in milk of ewes fed Lemongrass diet compared to those fed of other diets.
4- There was increased (P<0.05) in milk total solids, solids not fat, protein and lactose in ewes fed Lemongrass and Roselle diets compared with those fed control diet.
5- Milk density was higher (P<0.05) in milk of treated ewes compared to untreated ones, whereas minerals content did not differ among groups.
6- In rumen samples, the protozoal count was significantly higher in fed Lemongrass and Roselle diets compared to those fed CON and LGRO diets.
7- Also, there was highly significant difference in total VFA’s concentration in LGRO and RO compared to the CON group. Both body weight of lambs and daily gain of treated groups were not affected significantly by the experimental additives.
8- Dietary LGRO decreased (P<0.05) plasma protein and albumin while the ewes fed LG had the highest (P<0.05) concentration of globulin. Plasma creatinine concentration was lower (P<0.05) in treatment groups compared to CON group.
9- There was a significant increase in plasma cholesterol concentration of LG and RO groups, while LGRO group had the lowest concentration of plasma total cholesterol (P<0.05) compared with other ones.
10- Feeding with LG and LGRO had negative effect on the level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) enzymes.
11- Ewes fed RO had the highest (P<0.05) level of LDH enzyme compared with other groups.
12- Dietary RO decreased (P<0.05) triiodothyronine (T3) concentration, while LGRO groups tended to increase (P<0.05) T4 concentration.
13- Dietary LG and RO improved (P<0.05) total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) compared to CON group.
14- Heavy infection was detected with Coccidia in the fecal samples of control group compared to LG and RO groups, while tended to have less quantity of oocytes output in LGRO group.
Finally, from our findings, we conclude that the addition of Lemongrass and Roselle herbs can be used in dairy ewes without any harmful effect on animal performance. These kinds of herbs and at this level (4 g/kg of concentrate mixture), succeed to improve milk composition and rumen fermentation in treatment ewes but this effect did not pass to their lambs. It could be concluded that the addition of LG or RO in the diets may improve antioxidant status, some blood metabolites, anticoccidial and immune response of Saidi ewes.