Abstract
Effect of dietary Garcinia kola seed meal (GKSM) (bitter kola) on the performance, microbial activities and blood constituents of rabbits were investigated. Four rabbit grower mash were prepared such that diet T0 (control) contained no Garcinia kola seed meal while diets T 1 , T 2 and T 3 contained 2.5%, 5.0% and 7.5% Garcinia kola seed meal, respectively, partly replacing maize. Each diet was fed to a group of 9 grower rabbits for 56 days, in completely randomized design (CRD) experiment. Each group was further subdivided into three replicates of 3 rabbits each. Faecal samples were collected from four rabbits per treatment at the first and last weeks of the experiment and used to determine intestinal microbial load of the rabbits. At the end of the feeding trial, blood samples were randomly collected from four rabbits per treatment and used to determine heamatological and serum biochemical profile of the rabbits. Body weight gain, daily body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (g feed/g gain) of the groups on GKSM diets decreased significantly (P 0.05). There were no traces of eosinophils, basophils and monocytes. Biochemical indices (serum cholesterol, serum protein, serum albumin, serum globulin) were also not significantly affected (P > 0.05) by the treatments. The glucose levels of GKSM fed groups were significantly (P 0.05). Cost of production ( N /Kg gain) was highly increased with increase in dietary GKSM. Keywords : Diets, Garcinia kola, grower rabbits, performance.
Highlights
There is no doubt that the costs of providing feed and drugs in livestock and poultry industry in Nigeria are steadily increasing
Esiegwu and Udedibie (2009) reported that broilers placed on diets containing Garcinia kola seed meal produced heavier body weight and superior feed conversion ratio at 2.5% dietary level
The seeds were cut into small pieces and sun-dried until they became crispy. They were milled in a hammer mill with 2mm sieve to produce Garcinia kola seed meal (GKSM)
Summary
There is no doubt that the costs of providing feed and drugs in livestock and poultry industry in Nigeria are steadily increasing. These costs affect the final consumers of the products. Heckel, commonly called bitter kola is an indigenous medicinal tree belonging to the family, guttiferae. It is highly valued because of its medicinal properties (Hertog et al, 1993). The study reported was designed to determine the effects of graded levels of Garcinia kola seed meal on the performance, intestinal microbial load and blood constituents of grower rabbits
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