Impact of rumen enhancer 3 (RE 3) as a feed additive on lipid, biochemical and histopathological profile of rabbits reared under tropical conditions

2014

English

Thirty-six (36) weaner rabbits (California White, New Zealand White and Chinchilla cross-bred) of average weight of 550 g were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments of nine animals per treatment and fed for a period of four months.The treatment groups included two controls and two test treatments. The first group served as a positive control (T0+) while the second (T0) had neither additive nor antibiotic inclusion in the diet. The third and fourth groups had the rumen enhancer, RE3 at an inclusion rate of 1.0 (T1) and 1.5 ml/kg feed (T2). The results showed that the probiotic (RE-3) did not significantly influence serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels at the two inclusion rates used though no numerical basis animals on treatment T1 tended to be hypocholesterolemic. Also, there were no significant (P>0.05) variation in the serum blood constituents measured to help monitor the integrity of the organs of the rabbits fed the various dietary treatments except serum aspartate transaminase concentration which had T0 demonstrating significantly(p<0.05) higher response relative to the other treatments. Results from the histopathological studies as well as the weights of some organs examined namely brain, liver, testicles, kidney and spleen showed that feeling RE3 had no toxicological implications for rabbit at the inclusion rates used in this study. Rumen enhancer 3 had demonstrated it potential to act as a cleansing agent and thereby improve the general function of the kidneys of rabbits particularly when fed at 1.0ml per kg diet.

Wallace, P. A.; Amoah, K. O.; Asiedu, P.; Osei, D. Y.; Adu, E. K.; Karbo, N.