Influence of the probiotic, Re 3 on nutritional performance, hematological, immune status and carcass characteristics of Rabbit reared under tropical conditions

2012

English

Thirty-six heterogenous population of California White, New Zealand White and Chinchilla weaner cross-bred rabbits of mean weight of 550 g were randomly assigned to four treatments of nine animals per treatment. The study was structured in such a way that there were two controls i. e. To- (treatment group without any additive in the basal diet) and To+ (treatment group treated with coccidiostat prior to commencement of feeding trial and fed the basal diet). The test treatment groups consisted of T1 (supplemented with 1.0 ml RE 3 per kg feed) and T2 (supplemented with 1.5 ml RE 3 per kg feed). The feeding trial lasted for a period of four months after which nutritional indices, hematological, immune function as well as carcass characteristics of the rabbits were assessed. The results of the lymphoid organ and indices showed that all the rabbits had similar immune response regardless of treatment. That was to imply that the immune function and status of all the rabbits seemed to be at the same level regardless of the presence or absence of RE 3. Furthermore, RE 3 neither influenced the growth nor the feed intake while feed conversion efficiency of rabbits fed 1.0 ml RE 3 per kg feed (T1) demonstrated significant (P<0.05) improvement. Rabbits fed treatment T1 also showed higher significant (P<0.05) serum levels of white blood cells and lymphocytes compared to those fed the other treatments. Also, RE 3 as a probiotic did not influence live weight, full stomach, full gastrointestinal and carcass length. It, however, caused significant (P<0.05) changes in the warm and chilled dress weights relative to all the others fed the other treatments

Wallace, P. A.; Osei, D. Y.; Asiedu, P.; Amoah, K. O.; Asafu-Adjaye, A.