Table 1.

Effect of Chinese herbal medicine on body weight gain and ruminal fermentation characteristics in sheep^a

Items	MH‐diet	CHM‐diet	SEM	p‐value
Body weight gain (kg/d)	0.02	0.03	0.02	0.17
pH	6.78	6.51	0.06	0.04
NH3 (mmol/L)	10.8	11.6	0.4	0.19
Total VFA (mmol/L)	83.2	94.4	5.4	0.08
Individual VFA concentrations (mmol/L)
Acetate	60.3	67.4	2.3	0.07
Propionate	15.7	18.6	0.5	0.08
Iso‐butyrate	0.6	0.6	0.1	0.32
Butyrate	5.3	6.2	0.4	0.21
Iso‐valerate	0.8	0.9	0.06	0.09
Valerate	0.5	0.6	0.03	0.17

Note. CHM‐diet, MH‐diet supplemented with 2% of Chinese herbal medicine; MH‐diet, mixed hay of orchardgrass and reed canarygrass; VFA, volatile fatty acids.

^aValues represent means and standard error of the mean (SEM) of six sheep.