Liu, XuleiLiu, FuyaoYan, TianhaiChang, ShenghuaWanapat, MethaHou, Fujiang2020-09-182020-09-182020-04-12Liu, X., Liu, F., Yan, T., Chang, S., Wanapat, M. and Hou, F. (2020) ‘Cistanche deserticola Addition Improves Growth, Digestibility, and Metabolism of Sheep Fed on Fresh Forage from Alfalfa/Tall Fescue Pasture’, Animals. MDPI AG, 10(4), p. 668. doi: 10.3390/ani10040668.2076-2615https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10040668Publication history: Accepted - 9 April 2020; Published online - 12 April 2020This study is targeted at evaluating whether C. deserticola addition promotes digestion, nitrogen and energy use, and methane production of sheep fed on fresh forage from alfalfa/tall fescue pastures. The sheep feeding trial was conducted with four addition levels with C. deserticola powder, and a basal diet of fresh alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea). Addition levels of 4% and 6% improved average body weight gain (BWG) by 215.71 and 142.86 g/d, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) by 0.20 and 0.14, respectively. Digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and ether extract (EE) was 62.25%, 65.18%, 58.75%, and 47.25% under the addition level of 2%, which is greater than that in the control group. C. deserticola addition improved energy utilization efficiency, while addition levels of 2% and 4% increased nitrogen intake and deposited nitrogen. Overall, C. deserticola has the potential to improve growth performance, digestion of sheep, so it has suitability to be used as a feed additive.en© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).additives, NDF, body weight gain, dry matter intake, urine energy, enteric methane emission, grasslandArticle