Feeding garlic powder to cattle: Effects on mineral intake, fly repellence and cattle performance Lead Scientist – Dr. Obioha Durunna
Duration – 2019 to 2022
Background Summer grazing allows cattle producers to make cheap and cost-effective weight gains from pastures. However, the seasonal abundance of filth flies (such as horn, stable, and black flies) presents some production, economic, welfare, and social license consequences to the cattle industry. Further, the demand for improved animal performance has prompted cattle producers to look for strategies to reduce energy losses while also ensuring better animal health. Forage and grain-based diets alone cannot achieve the optimal nutritional needs of cattle. Beef cattle can get most of their nutrients from forage, while the remaining must come from supplementation or feed additives. Therefore, feed additives are effective and practical tools for producers to manage nutrient deficiencies while promoting feed efficiency in cattle. A growing practice for beef producers is feeding mineral supplements infused with phytogenic feed additives such as garlic powder (Allium sativum) in order to stimulate increased mineral intake in cattle. Increased mineral intake is necessary for feeding systems or regions requiring elevated mineral intake to make up for nutrient deficiencies in feed. Garlic is used as a flavoring agent to increase the appetite of animals, but there is a considerable gap and lack of scientific information related to long- and short-term beef production activities. Most producers feed their animals these supplements to take advantage of the insectifugal claims. It is unclear whether this feeding practice has other benefits or adverse effects on animal productivity and health. Moreover, the impact of the various recommended inclusion levels is also not well understood. Some studies reported that garlic products or their components have immunostimulant, antimethanogenesis, improved fibre digestibility, and antimicrobial properties. Others have reported that garlic and its derivatives have insect-repellent abilities, which could be advantageous to the livestock industry. As consumer awareness grows, there is a higher demand for quality animal products at lower prices, others emphasize natural products rather than conventional commercial chemical products. Some cattle producers also have a growing interest in feeding natural alternatives rather than the conventional chemical-based types. Because cattle producers will benefit from strategies to ensure their stock consumes adequate mineral supplements to meet their production and health needs, a system that simultaneously reduces fly abundance and increases mineral intake is beneficial to the cattle industry. The objectives of this study were to measure supplement intake alongside fly abundance and other performance parameters in feedlot steers receiving different levels of garlic powder in their mineral supplement. The health indicators evaluated include blood parameters, liver abscess scores, and fecal parasite load.
Materials and Methods Two feeding trials were conducted at Lakeland College, Vermilion, Alberta, Canada. The first study ran in 2019 and 2020 with 208 crossbred steers (104 per year). The second trial was conducted with 80 steers in 2021. All steers in the first study were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups namely mineral supplement only (MS), MS + 0.3% garlic oil-based premix (0.3% GOil), MS + 2.5% garlic powder (2.5%GP) and MS + 5% garlic powder (5%GP). All steers in the second study were assigned to one of four supplement groups: 0% Garlic Powder (GP)[(control], 5% GP_1, 5% GP_2 and 5% GP_3. All steers in both studies received a high-grain ration from automatic feeding units (Growsafe® Systems), over 86, 114 and 72 days in the first, second and third years, respectively. The initial body weights and genomic breed composition were used to balance the randomized assignment before the feeding trial to achieve uniform bodyweight and breed distribution across the pens.
Results Over the 3 yr, there was no difference (P > 0.05) in dry matter intake, average daily gain, and gain-to-feed ratio between 5%GP and 0%GP groups, but supplement intake was higher (P < 0.004) for 5%GP (208 gd1) compared to 0%GP (154 gd-1) treatment. While there were no differences observed for dry matter intake (P = 0.62), average daily gain (P = 0.81), and feed-to-gain ratio (P = 0.51) indicated significant Year x Group interactions. Feed efficiency profiles via residual feed intake (RFI) did not differ (P > 0.05) among the groups. Most of the blood parameters were within the veterinary reference range for all groups. There were no significant differences in fecal parasitic load, fat composition, or liver abscess scores across treatment groups. As expected, GOil had negligible allicin content, whereas GP had substantially higher allicin content (up to 5407ug/g). Allicin reduced by up to 98% when stored improperly, indicating that storage conditions could affect actual concentrations. The results showed that infusing garlic powder into free-choice mineral stimulated voluntary consumption in feedlot steers but did not affect other performance parameters, liver abscess scores and health indicators. Fly data were below the economic thresholds in all groups. The low fly abundance was related to the low hatch rate in confined feedlot settings. Old or stale garlic powder (> 1 yr) was less effective in stimulating intake. Proper storage is required to maintain the allicin content of the garlic powder
Take-Home Messages -
Infusing garlic products into mineral supplements increased supplement intake by 25.4% to 37.6% in the first two years but up to 117% in the third year. Fresh (recently manufactured) garlic powder stimulated the most supplement intake.
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Infusing garlic products into mineral supplements did not affect growth, feed intake, or cause adverse health conditions of the feedlot steers.
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Feedlot settings do not support pest-fly studies because of frequent disturbance of manure pats, thereby disrupting the development cycle of the flies. Therefore, an update on horn/stable flies' economic impact on the beef industry was inconclusive.
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Allicin content could be reduced over time (up to 98%) under different storage conditions, implying that proper storage is important to maintain the integrity of allicin.
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Differences in intake performance experienced by producers may be due to factors related to variety, processing method, age of the processed garlic powder or its allicin content based on its storage conditions or a combination of these factors
Table A. Effects of different garlic treatments on body performance, total fly counts and blood metabolites. Treatment P-values Variables Control 0.3%GOil 2.5%GP 5%GP Group Year Total flies (n) 25.64 15.09 17.81 13.98 0.43 <.0001 SOTWT (kg) 509.60 513.19 509.97 510.69 0.97 <0.0001 DMI (kg/d) 12.56 12.51 12.62 12.83 0.62 <0.0001 WBC (103/ul) 7.81b 8.24b 8.91a 8.15b 0.036 0.035 6 RBC (10 /ul) 8.14 8.49 8.41 8.56 0.24 0.24 HGB (g/L) 132.5b 139.75a 139.43a 141.21a 0.025 0.0005 Lymphocyte (%) 61.56a 57.25b 51.71c 56.82b 0.0077 <.0001 b b a b Total Protein (g/L) 70.99 71.58 73.62 71.18 0.017 <.0001 Globulin (g/L) 33.89 34.44 36.13 34.51 0.074 <.0001 AG Ratio 1.12 1.09 1.05 1.09 0.28 <.0001 1 SOTWT = Start of test weight; DMI = Dry matter intake; WBC= White blood cells, RBC= Red blood cells, HGB= hemoglobin, HCT= hematocrit, AG Ratio = Albumin to Globulin ratio
Group*Year 0.25 0.90 0.90 0.34 0.023 0.072 0.7 0.26 0.83 0.38
Table B. Effects of garlic treatment on liver abscess score (LAS) over 2 years 1 LAS (%) MS 0.3%GOil 2.5%GP 5%GP 0 (%) 78.43 73.08 78.85 78.00 A (%) 9.80 19.23 9.62 2.00 A+ (%) 11.76 7.69 11.54 20.00
SEM 5.86 4.12 4.63
P-value 0.89 0.11 0.34
Table C. Steer supplement intake, growth and efficiency performance traits over 2 years Year1
Year 2
P-values
Variables
MS
0.3%GOil
2.5%GP
5%GP
MS
0.3%GOil
2.5%GP
5%GP
Group
Year
G*Y
ASI (g/d)
200a
285b
265b
237ab
128a
133a
164a
172a
0.002
<0.0001
0.01
ADG
1.84ab
1.96a
1.74b
1.85ab
2.22a
2.14a
2.27a
2.26a
0.76
<0.0001
0.004
F:G ratio
6.43ab
6.10a
6.83b
6.52ab
6.06a
6.29a
5.99a
6.10a
0.53
0.003
0.01
RBC(106/ul)
8.05a
8.53a
8.49a
8.05a
8.12a
8.36a
8.22a
8.98a
0.20
0.38
0.02
Allicin (Fresh)
0
-
4955
4955
0
-
4141
4141
-
-
-
Allicin (Exposed)
0
-
95.2
95.2
869.5
-
-
-
ASI = Average supplement intake; ADG = Average daily gain; MS = Mineral supplement only; GP = Garlic Powder; Year 1 GP were left exposed for 3 months. Year 2 GP were left exposed for 1.5 months.
Table D. Steer supplement intake, growth and efficiency performance traits over 3 years for the 5% inclusion Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Variables ASI (g/d) ADG F:G ratio
MS 200 1.84 6.43
5%GP 237 1.85 6.52
MS 128 2.22 6.06
5%GP 172 2.26 6.10
MS 147 1.85 7.79
5%GP_1 225 1.98 7.41
5%GP_2 105 1.86 7.89
5%GP_3 133 1.82 7.79
Allicin (FreshGP) Allicin (Exposed GP)
0 0
4955 95.2
0 0
4141 870
0 0
2784 2520
4154 4050
5390 5176