Abstract
This experiment was performed with the aim of investigating the effects of ascorbic acid (AA) on stress due to road transportation of rabbits. Nine rabbits administered AA served as the treated animals, while seven others given sterile water were used as the controls. All the rabbits were transported by road for 2 h under standard conditions, and their rectal temperature (RT), excitability score and liveweight values were recorded before, during and after the transportation. The results showed that road transportation was stressful to all the rabbits, as evidenced by an increase in RT values of both the treated and control animals after the transportation. Post-transportation RT value in the control rabbits (39.67 ± 0.41°C) was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of the treated rabbits (39.0 ± 0.16°C). The excitability scores of the rabbits decreased considerably following road transportation, especially in the control rabbits that were not administered AA. The liveweights of both the treated and control rabbits decreased on arrival. On day 1 post-transportation, the control rabbits lost 2.70% of the pre-transportation liveweight, while the treated rabbits gained 2.37% of the pre-transportation liveweight. In conclusion, the administration of AA to rabbits prior to the commencement of the journey ameliorated the adverse effects of stress due to road transportation. Key words: Road transportation, rectal temperature, liveweight, excitability score, ascorbic acid, rabbits.
Highlights
It has been established that road transportation is a major stress factor in farm animals, exerting deleterious effects on health, performance and, product quality (von Borell, 2001; Minka and Ayo, 2007a; Averos et al, 2009)
The dry-bulb temperature (DBT) and relative humidity (RH) values recorded from the study period were considerably higher than the optimum values for rabbit production, and the wide fluctuations in the parameters showed that the environmental conditions were thermally stressful and may have adverse effects on the rabbits
The results of this study demonstrated that road transportation in rabbits induced neuro-behavioural stress that was transient, and ascorbic acid (AA) administration ameliorated the fatigue observed in the transported rabbits
Summary
It has been established that road transportation is a major stress factor in farm animals, exerting deleterious effects on health, performance and, product quality (von Borell, 2001; Minka and Ayo, 2007a; Averos et al, 2009). AA has been shown to reduce the risk of stress due to transportation (or journey) by road in goats (Ayo et al, 2006b; Minka and Ayo, 2007b; Minka et al, 2009), pigs (Adenkola and Ayo, 2009; Adenkola et al, 2009) and pullets (Ayo et al, 2005; Minka and Ayo, 2008, 2010). It decreases lipid peroxidation intensity in vitro in leucocytes obtained from calves transported by ship (Urban-Chmiel et al, 2009). Ali et al (2006) showed that pretreatment with xylazine ameliorated stress due to 2-h
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