Effect of Replacing Maize with Garcinia kola Leaf Meal on Performance, Haematology, Organ and Carcass Characteristics of Rabbits

A 56-day feeding trial was carried out to investigate the response of growing rabbits to garcinia kola leaf meal as replacement for maize in rabbit diet. Twenty four crossbred (New Zealand White X Chinchilla) growing rabbits of mixed sexes with an average initial body weight of 940g. The animals wer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWorld journal of life sciences and medical research Vol. 3; no. 3; p. 67
Main Authors ABEGUNDE, Taye O, ADEDEJI, Olugbenga A, ASANIYAN, Emmanuel K, OLAJIDE, Rotimi, EWUOLA, Emmanuel O, SOWOLE, Funmi O, MAKO, Adejoke A, OGUNSEGUN, Micheal A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Calcutta Research, Reviews, and Publications 01.05.2014
Subjects
Corn
Flowers & plants
Hematology
Rabbits
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Summary:A 56-day feeding trial was carried out to investigate the response of growing rabbits to garcinia kola leaf meal as replacement for maize in rabbit diet. Twenty four crossbred (New Zealand White X Chinchilla) growing rabbits of mixed sexes with an average initial body weight of 940g. The animals were housed individually and randomly allotted to four diets with graded levels of garcinia kola leaf meal (GKLM) replacing maize at 0percentage (control), 10percentage, 20percentage and 30percentage and designated as D1, D2, D3 and D4 respectively. Average daily feed intake and average daily weight gain were monitored. After the feeding trial, blood samples were collected from the animals through the ear vein for haematology and serum biochemistry. 3 animals were stunned and sacrificed per treatment and samples of visceral organs and primal parts were collected from the animals. Data obtained were subjected to one-way analysis of variance. Dietary treatments had no significant effect on feed intake and feed conversion ratio, but weight gain, cost/kg feed and feed cost/kg weight gain were significantly affected. Feed cost/kg weight gain was significantly (p < 0.05) lowest in diet 3 and highest in diet 2. Apparent digestibility coefficients for dry matter, crude protein, and crude fibre were significantly (p < 0.05) affected. The organ weights were not affected by diets except for the lungs and thigh. It is concluded that garcinia kola leaf meal can be used to replace maize in the diet of growing rabbits without any adverse effect on the performance, haematology and carcass parameters.
ISSN:2249-0574