Keywords: Moringa leaf; Rabbits; Growth; Carcass; Heamatology
Recently, there has been interest in the utilization of Moringa (Moringa Oleifera) commonly called horse radish tree or drum stick tree, as potential inexpensive protein source for livestock feeding. The nutritional qualities of Moringa Oleifera are excellent, which constitutes a source of high quality forage for animals. Also, these leaves are browsed by ruminants and poultry because of its high protein and minerals, by guinea pigs, by rabbits and by cricetoms [3-5].
Serum biochemical analysis is an established means of assessing Toxicological, health and carcass quality status of animal on feeding trials since ingestion of dietary components has measurable effect on carcass quality and may be considered as an appropriate measure of long term nutritional status. This study was therefore, carried out to investigate the effect of feeding graded levels of Moringa Oleifera leaf meal on the growth, carcass, haematology and serum biochemical parameters of rabbits
Rations |
|||
Ingredients (kg) |
T0 |
T1 |
T2 |
Vitamin premix |
1.5 |
1.5 |
1.5 |
Bone Meal |
2 |
2 |
2 |
Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) |
17 |
17 |
17 |
Fish meal |
5 |
5 |
5 |
Groundnut cake |
12 |
7 |
2 |
Soybean Meal (SBM) |
13 |
8 |
3 |
MOLM |
0 |
10 |
20 |
Corn |
20 |
20 |
20 |
Wheat Bran |
30 |
30 |
30 |
Salt |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
Total |
100 |
100 |
100 |
Calculated chemical composition |
|||
Crudeprotein (%) |
24.1 |
22.28 |
20.46 |
Metabolisable energy (Kcal/kg) |
2600 |
2640 |
2680 |
T2=50% Moringa oleifera leaf meal
At the end of the feeding period, the animals (three per treatment) were starved of feed for 24 hour and thereafter slaughter.
•Simple consumption index = (feed consumption) / (weight gain)
•Feed efficiency relative to metabolic weight = (Feed consumption) / Weight Gain 0.7
γi = μ + αi + ei
Where: γi = is the dependent variable (average food consumption, initial average live weight, final average live weight, average weight gain, feed conversion)
μ = general mean
αi = effect of treatments
ei = Residual error
Table 4 shows the effect of MOLM on carcass. There is no difference (P ˃0.05) between the control diet T0 and the other diet T1 and T2 for heart, liver, lungs weight and carcass length.
Specimen |
DM (%) |
CP* |
ME (Kcal/DM kg) |
CF* |
EE* |
Ash* |
MOLM |
93.08 |
27.84 |
2918.40 |
11.79 |
7.73 |
9.97 |
Parameters |
T0 |
T1 |
T2 |
Average initial weight (g) ± SEM |
592 ± 76a |
614.5 ± 39a |
571.9 ± 39a |
Mean final weight (g) ± SEM |
2012.5 ± 119a |
1961.5 ±214a |
1630 ± 100b |
Total weight gain (g) ± SEM |
1420.5 ± 127a |
1347 ± 206a |
1058 ± 96b |
Mean feed intake (g/) ± SEM |
4633 ± 627a |
4214 ± 457a |
4149 ± 182a |
Feed conversion ratio |
3.25 ± 0.30b |
3.16 ± 0.41b |
3.93 ± 0.23a |
Consumption index relative to metabolic weight |
20 ± 1.92ab |
19.1 ± 2.14b |
22.41 ± 0.92a |
mean daily feed intake (g/day) ± SEM |
82.74 ± 11a |
74.1 ± 5.8ab |
69.58 ± 3.2b |
Mean daily growth rate |
25.37 ± 2.28a |
20 ± 1.92ab |
20 ± 1.92ab |
Parameters |
T0 |
T1 |
T2 |
Live weight (g)±SEM |
1885.7 ± 88a |
1740 ± 136a |
1448 ± 172b |
dress weight (g)±SEM |
191.2 ± 21a |
178.80 ± 27.8ab |
140 ± 25.5b |
carcass weight (g)±SEM |
1010 ± 61.8a |
923 ± 71a |
698 ± 72b |
Carcass lenght(g)±SEM |
34 ± 0.81a |
34.5 ± 0.58a |
33 ± 2.1a |
head weight (g)±SEM |
130 ± 7.07a |
110 ± 9.12b |
108.8 ± 9.78b |
liver weight (g)±SEM |
40 ± 7.07a |
40 ± 7.07a |
33.75 ± 4.78a |
heart weight (g)±SEM |
5 ± 0a |
5 ± 0a |
5 ± 0a |
kidney weight (g)±SEM |
16.25 ± 4.78a |
12.50 ± 2.88ab |
8.75 ± 2.5b |
lungs weight (g)±SEM |
10 ± 4.08a |
12.5 ± 8.66a |
10.0 ± 0.00a |
parameters |
T0 |
T1 |
T2 |
AST (UI/l) ±SEM |
45.8 ± 5.7a |
48.27 ± 13.67a |
43.76 ± 0.115a |
ALT (UI/l) ±SEM |
137.67 ± 19.09a |
124.37 ± 8.38a |
136.67 ± 8.96a |
Total cholesterol (g/dl)±SEM |
0.82 ± 0.35a |
1.04 ± 0.19a |
1.12 ± 0.34a |
Total protein (g/l)±SEM |
59.23 ± 2.40b |
63.76 ± 1.85ab |
64.7 ± 2.86a |
Urea (g/l)±SEM |
0.48 ± 0.025a |
0.45 ± 0.07a |
0.48 ± 0.005a |
creatinine (g/l)±SEM |
13.4 ± 0.85a |
12.7 ± 1.30a |
13.5 ± 1.05a |
Aspartate Transaminase =AST, Alanine Transaminase=ALT
parameters |
T0 |
T1 |
T2 |
RBC 106/mm3±SEM |
6.7 ± 0.5a |
6.85 ± 0.24a |
7.07 ± 0.5a |
WBC (103/mm3) ±SEM |
5.5 ± 0.92b |
7.34 ± 6.67a |
6.26 ± 0.46ab |
Hb (g/dl) ±SEM |
14.1 ± 0.60a |
14.03 ± 0.47a |
14.23 ± 0.9a |
Platelets (103/mm3) ±SEM |
369.67 ± 92.11a |
328.3 ± 90.27a |
329.33 ± 82.27a |
hematocrit (%)±SEM |
45.93 ± 2.18a |
46.4 ± 1.49a |
46.9 ± 2.2a |
VGM (fl)±SEM |
68.5 ± 2.41a |
67.67 ± 0.68a |
66.5 ± 1.76a |
MCHC (g)±SEM |
30.7 ± 0.65a |
30.23 ± 0.057a |
30.33 ± 0.55a |
neutrophils (%)±SEM |
32.1 ± 1.57a |
28.27 ± 2.59a |
32 ± 10.56a |
eosinophils (%)±SEM |
0 ± 0.00a |
0.03± 0.057a |
0 ± 0.00a |
basophils (%)±SEM |
0.93 ± 00.152a |
0.83 ± 0.208a |
0.90 ± 0.96a |
lymphocytes (%)±SEM |
64.53 ± 1.87a |
67.06 ± 4.62a |
60.43 ± 10.07a |
monocytes (%)±SEM |
2.43 ± 1.93a |
3.8 ± 1.91a |
5.66 ± 0.32a |
RBC=Red blood cell, Hb=Haemoglobin, WBC=White Blood Cell, MCV=Mean cell volume, MCHC=Mean cell haemoglobin concentration, Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC)
Blood is an important index of physiological and nutritional status in the organism [15]. The effect of MOLM on selected enzymes showed any effect in the activities of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase. Transaminase are enzyme markers of hepatic toxicity. There were no significant differences between the tests and control groups for Cholesterol, urea and creatinine. This finding suggests that the MOLM may not have negative effect on the proper functioning of the liver, kidney and muscle. The biochemical values of total protein (59, 2 – 64, 7 g/l), reported in this study Table 3 were generally higher in other tropical areas. The generally higher biochemical values in this study could be due to the high nutritional value of the moringa.
There were no differences between control and test diet for haematological parameters except WBC which suggest that the MOLM could enhance hematopoietic activity and may not precipitate anaemia in a biologic system [16]. The (Mean Corpuscular Volume) MCV, MCH, MCHC, Neutrophils, Lymphocyte, Monocytes and Eosinophils were not significantly affected (P > 0.05) with the inclusion of Moringa leaf meal. This report agrees with the findings of Olatunji and Alagbe, when rabbits were fed vary level MOLM of and the normal range established by Mitruka and Rawnsley [17,18].
The nonsignificant difference (P > 0.05) observed for this parameter is an indication of better utilization of MOLM by the rabbits. The higher value of WBC observed in rabbits fed MOLM based diets compared with the control is an indication that the immunity levels of the rabbits were challenged, which is different from those obtain by Odetola, et al. [19]. According to Soetan, et al. high counts of WBC enhance adaptability to local environment and disease prevalent conditions [20].
The Red blood cell values were not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced with the inclusion of Moringa leaf meal, this means that shows that oxygen and carbon dioxide are well distributed in the body to enhance respiration and good health status. The values recorded fall within the normal recorded by Mitruka and Rawnsley and it agrees with findings of Odetola, et al. [18,19].
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