Effect of yeast treated bovine blood-rumen content mixture on performance and blood profile of weaner rabbits

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of yeast treated Bovine blood–rumen content mixture (YTBRM) on performance of 60 weaner rabbits with an average weight of 501.96 ± 0.22g. The rabbits were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments with five replicates in a completely randomized design. T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 had 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% YTBRM. Data were collected on growth performance, carcass characteristics and haematological indices. At the end of the experiment, 4 rabbits were randomly selected from each treatment and slaughtered to determine the effect of graded levels of YTBRM on carcass yield and internal organs characteristics. The result of growth performance revealed that all parameters measured were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the dietary inclusion of YTBRM except for feed conversion ratio which ranged from 3.05 in T1 to 3.64 in T2. Average daily feed intake was significantly (P<0.05) higher (101.69) in treatment T5 while the other treatment groups were similar.. Average daily weight gain were significantly higher in T (29.72g) and T4 (28.05g) while the least value was obtained in T2 (25.46g). Carcass yield was significant (P<0.05) across the treatment groups. Dressing percentages were significantly (p<0.05) higher in T2 (82.35%), T1 (77.62%) and T4 (74.08%) than T5 (63.57%) and T3 (69.79%). Result of the internal organs shows that they were all similar across the treatment groups. Haematological and biochemical indices shows no significant diffrerence (P>0.05) in all the parameters evaluated. It could be concluded from this study that YTBRM can be included up to 40% in weaner rabbits diet without adverse effect on the growth performance, blood profile, carcass and internal organs characteristics.