GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND HEMATOLOGICAL CHANGES OF GROWING NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBITS FED DIETS SUPPLEMENTED WITH SOME NATURAL ANTIOXIDANTS UNDER HEAT STRESS CONDITIONS

El-Wardany, I.; El-Badawi, A. Y.; Helal, F. I.S.; Ali, Nematallah G.M.; Aboelazab, O. M.

doi:10.21608/ejnf.2015.104480

GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND HEMATOLOGICAL CHANGES OF GROWING NEW ZEALAND WHITE RABBITS FED DIETS SUPPLEMENTED WITH SOME NATURAL ANTIOXIDANTS UNDER HEAT STRESS CONDITIONS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shobra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt.

² Animal Production Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

10.21608/ejnf.2015.104480

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of some natural antioxidants supplements (moringa dry leaves and rosemary) to growing rabbit diets on alleviating the negative impact of heat stress on growth performance and hematological changes. In a feeding experiment lasted 63 days, forty five growing New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits aged six weeks and weighed in average 750±5.8g were randomly blocked by weight into five groups (9 animals each) and each group consists of three replicates (3 animals each), where the 1st group fed a basal ration free of moringa or rosemary dry leaves (R1-control), while the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th groups were fed respectively, on the same basal ration supplemented with 0.5% moringa dry leaves (R2), 1%moringa dry leaves (R3), 0.5% rosemary dry leaves (R4) and 1% rosemary dry leaves (R5). Temperatures have been controlled artificially to be 33.1±0.5°C, and the level of relative humidity at 43±3%. Experimental rations were offered ad lib. Growth performance was recorded weekly and hematology examination was evaluated at the end of the feeding experiment. The results showed that, moringa dry leaves (MDL) composition was on DM basis; 19.52% CP, 7.51% EE, 7.23% CF, 53.08% NFE and 12.66% ash and rosemary dry leaves (RDL) composition was on DM basis; 4.10% CP, 16.32% EE, 18.97% CF, 52.37% NFE and 5.24% ash. Feeding rabbits on rations supplemented with MDL or RDL did not influence body weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion and drinking water. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCV, MCH, WBCs and neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio were improved with rations contained MDL or RDL (0.5% or 1%) than control. In addition, platelets count, neutrophils and lymphocytes were not affected by feeding treatments. Under the conditions of the present study, it is concluded that, MDL and RDL supplementation might have positive effects on growing rabbits reared under heat stress conditions when supplemented to rations at 0.5% or 1.0%.

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