Productive and Physiological Response of Male Rabbits to Dietary Supplementation with Thyme Essential Oil.

Ahmed A A Abdel-Wareth,Abdallah E Metwally

doi:10.3390/ani10101844

Ahmed A A Abdel-Wareth, Abdallah E Metwally

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101844

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Abstract

Simple SummaryThe present study was carried out to compare the potential effects of the levels of thyme essential oil on the productive performance and serum metabolic profile of male rabbits. Rabbits were assigned to five dietary treatments including a basal diet as a negative control, a basal diet supplemented with an antibiotic as a positive control, and a basal diet supplemented with 60, 120, or 180 mg/kg of thyme essential oil. The main results showed that the levels of thyme essential oil contributed to the improvement of productive and the physiological response compared with the negative and positive control of male rabbits.The present study aimed at assessing the efficiency of thyme essential oil (TEO) as an alternative to antibiotics for improving the productive performance and serum metabolic profile of male rabbits. A total of one hundred and fifty 70-day-old male Californian rabbits were assigned to five dietary treatments, including a basal diet as a negative control (NC), a basal diet supplemented with an antibiotic as a positive control (PC), and a basal diet supplemented with 60, 120, or 180 mg/kg of TEO. The experiment period lasted for 60 days. Supplementation of TEO levels significantly (P < 0.01) increased daily body weight gain and improved feed conversion ratio of male Californian rabbits compared to NC and PC groups. Similarly, the TEO remarkably enhanced the semen characteristics of rabbits compared to NC and PC groups. Supplementation of TEO significantly decreased aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, urea, and creatinine compared with NC and PC groups. Supplementation with TEO increased serum testosterone concentration compared to NC and PC treatments. Our data demonstrate that TEO levels up to 180 mg/kg can play a major role as an alternative to dietary antibiotics, in improving the productive performance, semen quality, testosterone levels, and the kidney and liver functions in California male rabbits.

Highlights

The rabbit industry has played a major role in meeting the increasing requirements of animal protein for human consumption and is becoming an important source of the national economies in Egypt [1,2]
To explore the effects of thyme essential oil (TEO) on the productive and physiological status of male rabbits, we investigated the efficiency of TEO as an alternative to antibiotics for improving the productive performance, testosterone levels, and liver and kidney functions of male rabbits
The TEO supplementations at 60, 120, 180 mg/kg increased Daily body weight gain (DBWG) and improved Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of male Californian rabbits compared to the positive control (PC) and negative control (NC) groups during the periods of 70–100, 100–130, and 70–130 days of age

Summary

Introduction

The rabbit industry has played a major role in meeting the increasing requirements of animal protein for human consumption and is becoming an important source of the national economies in Egypt [1,2]. Rabbit meat is characterized by a high protein and low fat and cholesterol content [1]. These nutritional qualities are of great value to the meat industry and consumers. A ban on antibiotic growth promoters by several countries and the menace of antibiotic-resistant bacteria have forced researchers to look for alternatives for improving efficiency in animal production [2,3]. Due to this ban, much research has been conducted in order to explore the use of phytogenic substances as alternate. Phytogenic substances are generally considered safe and are frequently utilized in the food and feed industries [6]

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