Effect of fennel seeds as a dietary supplement in grazing goats: preliminary results

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is an annual plant belonging to the family of Apiaceae, widely used in Mediterranean areas for its aromatic and medical properties. Fennel is well-known for carminative, digestive and galactagogue properties which makes its seeds particularly used during the lactation stage. In our trial, 20 pluriparous Cilentana goats homogeneous for body weight (BW: 50 ± 2 kg), parity (3rd) and milk yield in the previous lactation (1450 ± 120 g/head/day), immediately after kidding (first week of March 2022) were equally divided into two groups (C: control; F: fennel) fed on a permanent pasture (9:00 am to 4:00 pm). In the pen both groups received 400 g of concentrate mixture composed by barley and corn meals (50/50) (CP: 100,4 g/kg; EE: 31,6 g/kg; UFL/kg: 1,06) and group F diet was supplemented with 15 /head/day of organic dried fennel seeds (procured by Biokyma© S.r.l) mixed with concentrate mixture at the time of administration. By the beginning of May, milk yield was daily measured while samples of milk and pasture were monthly collected up to September, and analysed, as well as concentrate samples, for chemical composition. Data were analysed using the twoway ANOVA with JMP software (version 11, PROC GLM, SAS 2000). According to previous trials using fennel seeds, milk yield was significantly higher in group F (1809.59 g vs 1418.27 g for group F and C respectively; p < 0.001), probably due to the high content of anethole in the fennel seeds. The anethole has estrogenic properties thus able to stimulate the prolactin secretion. In contrast, no differences were observed for fat (C: 4,27% vs F:4,01%), protein (C: 2,93% vs F: 2,88%) and lactose (C: 4,25% vs F: 4,13%) content. However, the investigation on other possible effects that such integration may have on milk quality (i.e. aromatic and fatty acid profile) are in progress. In conclusion, this result is particularly interesting since goat milk in this area is mainly intended for cheese making, therefore a strategy which allows to increase animal performances without the 'dilution effect' could be advantageous.