Haematological and Serum Biochemical Indices of Weaner Rabbits fed Varying Levels of Dried Gmelina arborea Leaf Meal

Aims: Rabbit production fulfils important socio-economic functions and has the ability to alleviate the animal protein inadequacy. In Nigeria and most other developing countries, inadequate nutrition undermines rabbit in expressing their full potential. Therefore, a 49-day study was carried out to determine the effect of varying levels Gmelina arborea leaf meal (GALM) on haematology and serum biochemistry of weaner rabbits.

Study Design: Completely randomized design (CRD).

Place and Duration of Study: At the Rabbit unit of the Teaching and Research farm of Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi state Nigeria between June and August, 2015.

Methodology: 80 weaner rabbits were used for this study. Four diets were formulated such that diets T1, T2, T3 and T4 contain MOLM at 0%, 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively. Other ingredients remained constant for the four diets. The diets were offered to the rabbits which were randomly divided into four experimental groups of twenty animals each, with five rabbits constituting a replicate. Blood samples were drawn from each animal per treatment on the last day of the trial and evaluated for haematological and serum biochemical profile and data obtained analysed statistically.

Results: Results showed that the haematological parameters differed (P<0.05) significantly among the treatment groups. Packed cell volume, red blood cell and haemoglobin ranged between 35.31 – 41.37%, 9.55-12.62 g/dl and 4.39-7.10x106 /ul for T1 and T4 respectively and were improved (p<0.05) by GALM supplementation at 30% inclusion level. White blood cell (4.90-10.52x106 /dl) count of weaner rabbits in treatment groups was significantly (p<0.05) higher and better than the control. There were significant (p<0.05) difference in total proteins, urea, creatinine levels, and cholesterol for the treatment groups. The proteins (61.07-55.99 g/l), albumin (38.21-32.23 g/l), urea (35.40–30.96 mg/dl), and cholesterol (46.47-11.58 mg/dl) values tended to decrease with increasing levels of GALM for T1 and T4 respectively. Cholesterol was significantly (P<0.05) reduced at 30% inclusion.

Conclusion: These results showed that inclusion Gmelina arborea leaf meal had a beneficial effect on health status of weaner rabbits and therefore 30% was recommended for optimum rabbit production.