This work aimed to investigate the effects on feeding behavior in dairy cows fed with Origanum vulgare or Camellia sinensis extracts during the transition period. Twenty-four Jersey cows with BW 430 ± 33kg were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments: control (CO, no plant extract), green tea extract (GTE, 5 g/cow/day) and oregano extract (OE, 10 g/cow/day). Cows received the plant extracts mixed into the concentrate from −21 d to +21 d relative to parturition, were fed with 4 kg of concentrate and 21 kg of corn silage offered separately and were allowed to graze. Behavior was registered at 10-min intervals between milkings during 10 h on d −14, −7, −1, 7, 14, 21 relative to parturition. Data were submitted to variance analysis, using the Mixed procedure of SAS according to a completely randomized design, considering the effect of diet (n = 3), day of measurement (n = 6), diet by day interaction. There were not significant treatment by day interactions (P > 0.05). Cows fed GTE spent more time eating the concentrate, had more visits to the feeding trough with eating activity than cows fed CO or OE groups. Cows fed OE tended to have less visits to the feeding trough without eating and lower total time spent eating and time spent ruminating while lying than cows fed CO and GTE groups. Cows fed OE had higher time spent ruminating while standing than GTE group. Treatments did not influence time spent resting while lying or standing. Plant extracts affected distinctly feeding behavior, as GTE increased time spent eating and visits to the trough while OE decrease eating time and visits to the trough without feeding.

Behavior trait	Treatments			P > F	SE
	Control	Oregano	Green tea
Time eating concentrate (min)	23.2b	21.6b	28.5a	<0.001	1.4
Total eating time (min)	188.9a	168.6b	179.3ab	<0.050	6.5
Visits to the feeding trough with eating no.)	7.7b	6.6b	10.4a	<0.001	0.9
Visits to the feeding trough without eating (no.)	6.1c	3.9d	6.2c	<0.100	1.0
Resting while lying (min)	37.8a	30.8a	40.2a	>0.100	5.9
Resting while standing (min)	179.4a	196.9a	191.4a	>0.100	6.4
Ruminating while lying (min)	23.0a	14.4b	22.8a	<0.050	2.9
Ruminating while standing (min)	75.8ab	86.4a	70.7b	<0.050	4.1