UTILIZATION OF Ziziphus spina-christi LEAVES AS A NATURAL GROWTH PROMOTER IN RABBIT’S RATIONS.

Abstract

Ninety weaned New Zealand White (NZW) male rabbits at 6 weeks of age (mean initial body weight, (762.60g) were used to evaluate the potential of ziziphus spina-christi leaves (sidr) as natural growth promoters of growing rabbits. Rabbits were randomly assigned to three experimental groups (n=30 in each group) in a simple randomized design experiment and fed individually during experimental period (8 weeks). The control group (diet 1) was fed a diet without Sider leaves (SL); the experimental groups were fed the same diet with 10 (diet 2), and 20g SL/kg diet (diet 3). This was followed by 5 days of feeding as a collection period to determine nutrients digestibility of the tested diets. Final live weight, total weight gains and average daily gain (ADG) were significantly higher for diet 3 (20 g SL/kg diet) than for others. Rabbits fed control diet showed almost the lowest values (P<0.05) of the digestibility of various feed components. It was observed that rabbits taking diet 3 had significantly higher (P<0.05) TDN and DCP compared with those taking control diet. The best nitrogen balance (P<0.05) recorded with rabbits fed diet 3, which followed by those fed diet 2 and control diet (0 g SL/Kg diet), respectively. The NH3-N value of diet1 group was significantly (P<0.05) higher compared with others. The total anaerobic bacteria count in control group was higher (P<0.05) than others. However, rabbits of group 2 and 3 recorded the highest total anaerobic cellulolytic bacteria count values. Whereas, total protein levels in blood serum of rabbits fed diet 3 were significantly lower (P<0.05) than that in the control group by 15.65%, respectively. However, urea nitrogen, uric acid and creatinine values were also significantly (P<0.05) higher in the control group than in group 3. Dressing percentages of slaughter rabbits improved significantly (P<0.05) in diet 3 compared to the control group. Conclusively, the results of this study could have provided scientific validity for the use of low ziziphus spina-christi leaves levels (20g SL/kg diet) in the growing rabbit diets as natural growth promoters without any adverse effects on rabbit performance.