Blood Profile of Growing Rabbits Fed Pro-Vitamin A Fortified Cassava Peel Meal Based Diets

Abstract

The effect of feeding pro-vitamin A cassava peel meal (PCPM) based diets to growing rabbits (n=48) for 61 days on their haematology and serum biochemical parameters was investigated. T1, T2, T3, and T4 diets were formulated with inclusion levels of 0, 15, 30, and 45%, respectively. In a completely randomized design, the rabbits were randomly allocated to four experimental groups of twelve animals each, with four rabbits constituting a replicate. On the last day of the study, blood samples were taken from each animal and analyzed for haematological and serum biochemical indices. The results of the proximate composition of experimental diets revealed that T2, T3, and T4 had high (p<0.05) ash values. T1 diet had higher (p<0.05) metabolizable energy (ME) in comparison with T3, and T4 diets. Red blood cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC) were improved (p<0.05) significantly in 15, 30, and 45% PCPM inclusions. T3 and T4 had better (p<0.05) packed cell volume (PCV) values, haemoglobin (Hb), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), and mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) than T1 and T2. The treatment groups (T2, T3 and T4) had significantly higher (p<0.05) total protein, globulin, creatinine, total bilirubin, and aspartate amino transferase (AST). Cholesterol and urea levels were lowered significantly (p<0.05) in T3 and T4. All of the blood parameters were within the normal physiological range for clinically healthy rabbits, indicating that PCPM was beneficial to the rabbits' blood formation and health. T4 group had the best results and was recommended for enhanced rabbit production.